


Planning for a better tomorrow

by WonderSeeker



Series: A better tomorrow [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Fix-It, Gen, Harry Potter Epilogue What Epilogue | EWE, POV Multiple, Past Harry Potter/Ginny Weasley, Past Relationship(s), Past Remus Lupin/Nymphadora Tonks, Time Travel, Time Travel Fix-It, Time Travelling Harry Potter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-11
Updated: 2020-05-29
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:06:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 15
Words: 57,368
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24133306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WonderSeeker/pseuds/WonderSeeker
Summary: Voldemort was dead but the price had been too high. The wizarding world couldn't recover. Harry and his remaining friends decided to send someone back in time to explain the situation to some trusted allies. It would be up to them to save the world.
Relationships: Alice Longbottom/Frank Longbottom
Series: A better tomorrow [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1741423
Comments: 63
Kudos: 310





	1. The ritual

In a room at the end of the hallway of the large London house, two people sat studying complex numbers and drawings. Although they seemed to be concentrating extremely hard on their work, the man kept stealing glances at the woman in front of him. After a few hours of complete silence, brown eyes met green ones over the piles of papers scattered on the table.

"It's ready," whispered Hermione, "it's finally ready." She didn't exactly look happy, with a tired appearance that outshone any emotion. But her friend knew that she was extremely satisfied with the new development.

"Does that mean we can leave tomorrow?" asked Harry, just as expressionless, running a hand through his messy dark hair.

"No, it will take some time to prepare the ritual and the potion isn't finished yet," answered his best friend, "but with the calculations ready I can now say for certain this will work." They had been working on the plan for more than two years, believing in the instructions of an extremely disgusting dark arts book Hermione had found in Harry's Gringotts vault. As most of the books there, it used to be in the Black family vault until Sirius died and left everything to his godson, Harry, including the very same house they were in.

"All right, that will give me enough time to get some more supplies. Do you need help setting things up?"

"Just for the end of it, Luna and Neville will be here as well."

Harry made a face at this. "Are you sure that we can't do it on our own?"

"Harry, they are our friends and they are part of this, they deserve to be here as well. Besides, we need more power and Neville is the only one strong enough. You need to learn to accept help from other people," answered Hermione with a heavy sigh.

"If this works, I won't need to."

* * *

Ten days after that successful morning, four young adults and a toddler were waiting in another room of the same old house. Hermione kept glancing at her watch and then at the big cauldron simmering a green mixture. Suddenly, she reached out and waved her wand over it. She poured the concoction in two glasses and then looked up.

"It's time."

They all took their places around the drawing on the floor, Harry standing on the center carrying the little boy, Teddy, in his arms. Luna, a blonde girl with huge eyes, and Neville, a black haired guy with a face covered in scars, placed two trunks at his feet. Hermione then took a sip from an orange bottle and gestured the others to drink as well. Luna and Neville obeyed. They stood solemnly waiting for it to take effect.

"The ritual will work Harry, you shouldn't worry anymore," said Luna, watching him with her usual penetrating stare, that made him feel like she was seeing his very soul.

"I'm not worried about the ritual."

"You are worried about your role in the mission," stated Neville. "You'll do fine; we have planned everything to the last detail… Then again life is unpredictable, you will have to wing it and save the day as always."

"That's not funny," snapped Hermione, "but probably true."

"Gee, thanks for your confidence, I'm feeling better already," laughed Harry, releasing some of his tension.

The other three laughed with him until first Hermione and then Luna and Neville shuddered, showing that the potion was taking effect.

"Your turn Harry," said Neville, handing him one of the glasses. While Harry drank it, the scarred man muttered a few words to make the contents of the second glass appear directly in Teddy's stomach. It was not a pleasant sensation, but he was already dosed with a strong sleeping potion so he wouldn't feel a thing.

"Now we wait a couple of minutes," stated Hermione. An uncomfortable silence settled in the room. They had already said their goodbyes a few times and they had run out of words. What they were doing could potentially kill them all or hopefully, give them all better lives.

"See you in the next life Harry," sang Luna making the men smile and Hermione huff. "I know we'll become friends again."

"I hope you are right Luna," replied Harry, thinking of all the good times he had lived with them as well as Ginny and Ron. Strangely, thinking about them didn't hurt as much as it usually did. Still smiling, he felt the potion changing his body temperature and signaled the others.

"Goodbye Harry, Teddy," muttered Hermione, trying to keep the tears from falling.

"Good luck you two," said Neville with a determined expression on his face. Clasping Luna's hand with his right one and Hermione's with his left one he began chanting, quickly followed by them. Three lines later, a bubble appeared around Harry, Teddy and the trunks, while the other three started glowing more and more. They kept going, chanting over and over again until Luna fall to the ground. Without looking and without releasing her hands the other two continued chanting louder than ever. A few minutes later Hermione fell and Neville was alone, chanting with all his strength, his eyes focused on the bubble that was no longer transparent, so he couldn't see Harry and Teddy anymore. He could feel himself growing weaker by the second until he could barely keep his eyes open. But he didn't stop. He fell to his knees and kept going barely noticing when the bubble and everything inside disappeared with a loud noise. Neville then closed his eyes and dropped to the ground.


	2. Remus' visitors

A flashing light appeared in the same room of the same house, leaving behind a dark haired young man, a blue haired toddler and two trunks. Harry stayed on the floor for a couple of seconds, gathering the strength to open his eyes.

He slowly sat up, keeping hold of Teddy while looking around the place. This was definitely still Grimmauld Place. However, there was no drawing on the floor, no table with the cauldron and his friends were no longer there. At first glance, the ritual seemed to have been successful. He took his wand out and thought 'Tempus'. Glowing numbers materialized in the air, showing the date _December 20_ _th_ _, 1981._

"It worked," whispered Harry, unable to get his head around the fact that he was in the past. A noise from somewhere else around the house snapped him out of it. "We need to get out of here." He opened the first trunk and took out his invisibility cloak, covering them both. Then he shrank both trunks and put them in his pocket. The ritual interfered with the charm, so he hadn't been able to do that before.

He sneaked out of the room, silencing his feet and getting inside the drawing room. He only intended to find out if the locket was in the same place, if it wasn't, he will leave the job of looking for it to someone else. He searched around the room, but there was no locket anywhere in sight. He inwardly cursed but didn't waste any more time. Holding his godson as tight as he could, he exited the house and apparated to Number 4, Privet Drive.

As it was about five am, everything was quiet in the boring suburban street. Taking a deep breath, he tapped his wand on the door of his childhood house and opened it. Harry was overcome by his deep hatred of the place, but he fought the feeling as well as he could while going towards the cupboard under the stairs. There was no noise coming from it, but he knew his younger self was there. He twisted the handle and swung the door opened, revealing the child inside. He was awake, looking at the stranger in front of him. Harry put a finger over his mouth in a shushing motion, while taking a bottle from his pocket. He made the child drink the sleeping potion and took him in his arms, thinking how surreal it was to be rescuing himself. Luckily little Harry was so small that he could carry both boys with no problem at all. He was sad to see how meek the kid was; he didn't fight him while he forced feed him the potion at all! They had all thought that two months with the Dursleys wouldn't be enough to break his spirit yet. But it was too late to change his mind now, and little Harry would recover and have an amazing life.

Harry got out of the house and apparated to Lupin's cottage. Locating that damn house had been just about the hardest part of their planning. Neville had spent months researching and talking to people who used to know Remus and his parents until he had finally found and old coworker who told them where he lived in 1981. Apparently, he was forced to sell the house two years later. It was an isolated place on the outskirts of London, pretty big but a bit rundown. He sat on the grass at the edge of the wards, setting the boys over the cloak.

Now the delicate part, he needed to get in and get out without getting caught by his ex-professor. He resized one of the trunks and took out a large box. Then he dug out a small toy crib, transfigured and enlarged it to be a real one, with wheels and everything. He felt really proud of himself for the result. He placed the kids inside of it and finally began analyzing the wards. That was a skill that he had picked up after the war, he had discovered that he really enjoyed the work involved with creating and dismantling wards. He could have become a curse breaker.

After a few minutes, he nodded to himself. They were quite strong which knowing Remus didn't surprise him in the slightest, but they were also straightforward. Based on intent, they would never harm them as they had no ill will towards the owner of the house but they wouldn't let them in. Any trespasser would get caught up in them. So, he could send the boys and let them be found by Remus near his front door. The wolf would instantly recognize Harry, and probably Teddy as well, as his cubs. However, Harry didn't have time to be interrogated. The ritual only allowed him three days in the past and then he would cease to exist. He had much to do in that time.

Harry got under the cloak, levitated the package towards the cottage's front door and slowly lowered it to the ground. Then, he directed the crib as far as he could. He could sense the wards warning the caster of an intruder on the grounds. A few seconds later, a face showed up through one of the second floor windows. Harry chuckled to himself watching Remus expression as he saw what was there. The man apparently run all the way down, because he was outside in no time at all, in his pajamas, with a totally baffled look. The time traveler stopped laughing as soon as he saw the state of his friend. Remus was painfully thin, with dark circles under his eyes and an air of grief surrounding him. He recognized that look well enough. He saw it in the mirror for months after Ginny and Ron's deaths. Harry hoped that his plan would be enough to help Remus move on.

Remus approached the crib with caution, glancing around, probably expecting an attack of some sort. When he was close enough to see who was inside, he gasped loudly enough for Harry to hear him. He reached for little Harry, but before he even touched him, he stopped himself and slowly took his wand out.

"Paranoid," muttered Harry under his breath, but inwardly he was smiling. He was proud of his former teacher, there were a lot of free death eaters and this would be a perfect trap for him.

The man waved his wand around the crib, verifying that the children were real and they were no threat to him. After a couple of seconds of this, he lowered his wand and reached for the child again. He embraced him tightly and tears started running down his face.

"Harry, Harry, how are you here?" he kept repeating in a low voice. "I missed you so much little one."

The time traveler was starting to feel a little emotional himself watching the scene, but he didn't want to leave until the three of them got inside the house, with the package he had left for Remus.

"Sleeping potion," he heard Remus said while sniffing little Harry. "Was your friend dosed as well?" He sniffed Teddy and a puzzled smile showed up on his face. "How?" he said again.

The wolf had recognized Teddy as his cub, Harry was sure of it. He grinned too, waiting for Remus to notice the box at his door.

"Well, it doesn't matter right now, let's take you both inside." He placed Harry in the crib and then moved it towards the front door. That was when he noticed it. He cast a few detection charms again and then he picked it up.

Harry watched them get inside the house and locked the door and only then he turned around and disappeared.

* * *

Remus Lupin was a very lonely man. He hadn't always been like that. Two months ago, he had had four amazing best friends and an almost nephew, the son of two of them. They had been fighting a war, so everything had been more difficult than usual, they had kept arguing and disagreeing about everything. But they had been there for him and had accepted him just as damaged as he was, a werewolf, a monster. Or so he had thought.

The worst part of it, worse than the Potter's deaths, worse than Peter's death, was the reason behind it all - Sirius Black. He couldn't understand how he had misjudged him so much. Two months ago, he wouldn't have believed anyone who told him that Sirius would betrayed them all. He wasn't sure if he believed it just then… But there was no other explanation. Sirius had been the secret keeper and the secret could only be shared willingly. They couldn't use Veritaserum, they couldn't use the Imperius curse, nothing.

Remus rolled over the bed, staring at the ceiling. It was five am and he hadn't slept at all. His thoughts kept running in circles around the same thing. There was just no other option. He needed to accept the truth; Sirius was a traitor. And because of him, Remus had lost everything, the Potters and Peter were dead, Sirius was in Azkaban and little Harry… He didn't know where he was. Dumbledore didn't want to tell him. He had begged the headmaster to tell him, to be able to see Harry again, but there was no point. There was no one else he could ask; the Ministry would laugh in his face if a werewolf tried to take custody of the hero of the wizarding world. Dumbledore was his only option.

He sighed, trying to close his eyes to get some sleep. There was no way he would be able to convince himself of Sirius guilt. At least, not yet. Logical arguments were trumped by the image of a teenage Sirius, laughing while he transformed into a dog and licked Remus face. He had done that for him, became an animal to be able to be with him during the worst nights of his life. Just so that he could help to relieve some of the pain. Those were not the actions of a traitor. But Sirius did betray them, there was no other answer.

He opened his eyes again and covered his face with his hands. He was slowly going insane, he knew it. "Forget about them. They are not here and you need to move on," he muttered to himself. Easier said than done.

The sandy haired man kept staring at the ceiling for a while longer until suddenly there was a ring in his ears. He sat up quickly, grabbing his wand. That noise meant that there was someone attempting to breach his wards. Remus moved towards the window, carefully peeking outside. And there he stood, shocked. Was he seeing a crib? He forgot about being careful and stayed there, in full view of anyone outside. Then, he started running down the stairs and out the door. He approached the cot nervously watching it, expecting some sort of prank or something worse. He could see two little boys in there, one with black hair and the other with strange blue hair. His gaze returned to the black haired one. Could he be? But he didn't dare to hope.

Remus reached with his arms to pick the kid up and then stopped himself. _Constant vigilance!_ He heard Moody's voice telling him. He sighed and took his wand out. The man casted as many detections spells as he knew and they all told him the same thing, the cot was real, the kids were real, there were no curses in place, nothing threatening. He picked the boy up and finally look at his face. Harry!

What the hell was he doing there? How did he get there? "Harry, Harry, how are you here?" he kept repeating in a low voice. "I missed you so much little one." Remus couldn't believe what was happening. Seconds ago he was thinking he would never see him again… Why was he so unresponsive? This wasn't like Harry at all and it started to worry him. He sniffed him a little "Sleeping potion." That explained it and it wasn't harmful at all. He sighed in contentment. "Was your friend dosed as well?" He sniffed the other kid and instantly his wolf reacted with a single word. Cub. He was his cub. "How?" he said again. He didn't understand it at all. The werewolf didn't have any children of his own, he was sure, he was always careful because he didn't want to risk passing his condition to an innocent child. But this boy was his.

"Well, it doesn't matter right now, let's take you both inside." He placed Harry in the crib again and then moved it towards the front door. That was when he noticed a strange package on the floor next to the door. He casted the detection charms again, all negative. He picked it up and then moved it and the cot inside the house. He closed the door and locked it.

"Okay, let's hope there's some kind of explanation inside this thing." Glancing at the sleeping children, he realized that they were perfectly comfortable and decided not to move them. He sat on the sofa and placed the crib next to it. Remus opened the box, not knowing what else to expect and, thankfully, found a letter on top of everything else. "Yes, an explanation!" he exclaimed and promptly took it out. The man glanced at the signature first, but that didn't help at all so he started reading its contents.

_Dear Remus,_

_I hope you are not too freaked out at this moment. It's not every day that you wake up to find two kids inside your wards. First, I really want you to understand that I don't mean you or the kids any harm. I will try to explain as much as possible in this letter. To begin with, you need to know the names of the two boys I left in your care. One of them is of course Harry Potter and the other one is Edward Remus Lupin, better known as Teddy. Yes, he is yours. No, he is not a werewolf. You_ ' _ll have to bear with me so you can understand how this is possible._

_Let's start at the beginning of this mess. About two years ago, Albus Dumbledore was conducting and interview with Sybill Trelawney, an applicant to the divinations position at Hogwarts. While they were talking, Trelawney delivered a prophecy, a real one, regarding the downfall of Voldemort. I personally find that prophecies are laughable and self-fulfilling but Dumbledore believed it. There was another big problem, the first lines were overheard by death eater Severus Snape, who instantly returned to his master and spilled the beans. In his "infinite wisdom" Dumbledore decided to stay silent about the contents of the prophecy. They are as followed;_

_"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches... Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies... and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not... and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives... The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies..."_

_As you can see, laughable. Which dark lord? It never specifies that it is talking about Voldemort. Thrice defied him how? With a letter, facing him in battle, mocking him while talking to friends? And what about the year? The seventh month is probably July, but we don't know if it means in 1980, 1981 and so on. You must be getting the point. However, as my best friend once told me, wizards are not known by their use of logic. Both the headmaster and the mass murderer psychopath came to the same conclusion; the kid would be born to one of the order couples who have trice defied him in battle. Why? Probably because of how they both view most of the world and the people in it as mere pawns in their war, and it made sense to them that a powerful player wouldn't be born from someone they consider a nobody. But I digress._

_To sum up, they both decided the kids to watch out were Neville Longbottom and Harry Potter. Dumbledork urged the families to go into hiding and Voldemort decided to attack the Potters. He only heard the part of "The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches... Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies" so he didn't know that he might be marking him as his equal by choosing him. Now, I know that I said that the prophecy is crap, but if people like Voldemort and Dumbledore start believing in it and giving it meaning, they are enacting it and it unfortunately becomes real._

_Don't despair my friend, we_ ' _ll be able to help little Harry. For now, I hope that you are capable of following everything that I am trying to explain while taking care of two toddlers. I did leave some stuff to help you get by for a few days, as well as dosing them with some sleeping potion. It_ ' _ll last until tomorrow morning._

_To continue with the story, this is where it gets painful for you so brace yourself. The Potters went in to hiding and needed to choose a secret keeper. They naturally thought of James best friend and brother Sirius Black. However, being a prankster at heart Sirius didn't like such a straight forward plan and convinced them both to make him a decoy secret keeper while confiding the real secret to Peter Pettigrew. No one would ever suspect him of being such a trusted ally, right?_

_I'm really sorry Remus but that's the truth. Your ex friend Peter Pettigrew was already a death eater and he didn't waste any time in delivering them to Voldemort. On Halloween night, Sirius arrived at Godric Hollow only to see the destruction. He went mad with grief and, leaving little Harry with Hagrid, he started to hunt the rat. Meanwhile, Harry was taken to Petunia Dursley nee Evans' house, again because of Dumbledork and his "infinite wisdom". It's been two months and you can certainly see how well they care for your best friend's son. Harry is underweight, starved of affection, dirty and traumatized. I know you'll be good for him; he needs you Remus. Please, you can't tell the headmaster anything about this, he'll do what he thinks is best and just drop him off at his aunt's house. We can't let that happen._

_You might ask why did he leave him there. Well, I'm not completely sure of his reasoning but I can guess it's something to do with Lily's sacrifice. She left his son some powerful magical protection and it saved him from Voldemort's attack. Of course Harry is not the miracle child and hero the wizarding world believe him to be. I hope you didn't buy all that nonsense. Lily was the one to defeat Voldemort. So, back to why he was left on the doorstep of Petunia's house - yes, he left him on the doorstep during the night with no more explanation than a letter and yes I am being hypocritical but at least I know you are a good person and I made sure you found them right away. Dumbledore created some wards based on Lily's blood which feed on the love between mother and child or in this case, aunt and child. They could be really strong and an inspiring idea. However, as you can see by Harry's condition, they will never work. Harry deserves to be with people who love him and they're Sirius and yourself. So, let's finish with Sirius' part of the story._

_The mutt left to hunt for the rat and found him on a busy street. Pettigrew shouted for everyone to hear that Sirius had betrayed Lily and James, he cut off his own finger and then caused and explosion that killed twelve muggles and knocked Sirius out. He changed into the rat and escaped. When the aurors find the scene Sirius was still there, laughing like mad and repeating it was all his fault. They decided that was as good as a confession and took him into custody. That same day, Dumbledore, Barty Crouch and the arresting aurors signed the warrant to take him to Azkaban without trial. No one ever listened to his side of the story._

_Remus, I can assure you that he is as fine as he can be in a place like that. Dementors don't have the same effect on animagi, so he has a secret defense against them. However, we need to get him out. The legal way is difficult and probably long. The extralegal way is quicker. That is the first reason why I left this letter instead of staying for a chat. I_ ' _m going to get Sirius out. So please, be ready for our arrival some time tonight or most likely tomorrow morning.  
Although you still have no idea who I am or why do you have a son I hope all the information I left you with is enough for now. I_' _ll deliver a second letter with Sirius. I won't be able to stay, I have much to do and too little time._

_Hoping for the best,_

_Your friend._

Remus reread the letter three times, shaken. And then, he felt lighter than he had felt in months. Finally, he had the real answer! He didn't doubt it for a minute, it made much more sense than the story Dumbledore told him. Of course Sirius was innocent, he couldn't have betrayed James! Remus started laughing like a crazy person and couldn't stop. He finally run out of air and just started crying. He cried for himself, for the pain he endured this past few months, he cried for James and Lily, betrayed by Peter, he cried for Sirius, still trapped in that hellhole and finally, he cried for Harry. He didn't shed a tear for the traitor.

His thoughts returned to Harry. He needed to check on him, see if it was as bad as the letter said. The werewolf lifted the child and this time he realized how light he was. He weighted just as much as the last time Remus had visited him, about five months ago, before his parents went into hiding with him. The boy was wearing a huge t-shirt, about four times bigger than his size and only nappies underneath. Remus realized Harry needed to have his nappy changed. Luckily there were some on the package. He laid the kid on the sofa while he looked for everything he needed as well as a more appropriate t-shirt. There were some kids' clothes in there, but he thought they must be Teddy's, because they were bigger than Harry as well. At least there were just one or two sizes bigger. He quickly changed the boy's nappy and then took his t-shirt out. The man gasped. He could see his ribs! Harry was clearly underweight; he might be needing some nutritional potions. He checked the package but there was none, just a case full of an unknown potion. Remus sighed. Well, he just needed to get them himself. The sandy haired man carefully dressed Harry on the smallest t-shirt he could find and placed him on the crib again.

After that, he worked up the courage to glance at Teddy. His son. That still sounded weird. How could he have a son? But everything else the letter said was true, he was sure of it. And he didn't need anyone to tell him Teddy was his, he realized that the moment he sniffed him. Remus picked him up and looked at him. He was so perfect, a cute little kid with an angelic face and that weird blue hair. "Why does he have that hair?" He wondered aloud. He loved him, he could feel it already, just as much as he loved Harry. Remus would do anything for his cubs, he would protect them both.

The werewolf sat on the sofa with Teddy still in his arms, thinking about the letter. Who could be the writer? He signed it as _your friend_ and Remus didn't have that many people that he considered his friends. He instantly thought of James, but he squashed that hope. James was dead, he would never have left his child without even talking to him, he would never have hidden the existence of Remus' son, he would have told him if he knew. It had been two months, he wouldn't have left them thinking he was dead and Sirius rotting in Azkaban. It was impossible.

Remus sighed, mentally making a list of the people he once called friends; Alice, Frank, Mary, Marlene, Benjy, Fabian, Gideon… None of those would have done this and most of them were dead. Well, he would find out soon enough if the writer kept his promise and return with Sirius. Remus slowly started to smile. He would come back with Sirius! There was so much information in that letter that he hadn't registered that part yet. He needed to be ready for him, he would probably be weak.

"Mm he'll need chocolate, lots of it. And some light food. And some clothes, he doesn't really like wearing mine…" he started muttering to himself. "I'll better prepare the guest room for him."

In a better mood that he had in weeks, Remus started to clean and organize the room for the return of his best friend.

* * *

Harry apparated to the alley just outside the real estate agency. He looked at the photos on the front window and quickly identified the house he had picked. He hoped it was as decent as it had become in the future. The young man got inside the building and was immediately invited to approach one of the agents.

"Good morning," he greeted to the woman sitting at the desk. "I'm looking to buy a house."

"Well then you came into the right place," replied with a fake smile, offering him the seat in front of her. "What exactly is it that you are looking for?"

"I need a big house with a minimum of four bedrooms, a large garden and to be somewhat isolated from neighbors. Ah and it also needs to have a basement."

Somewhat bemused with the request, the woman smiled for real this time, and began showing him a number of options. Harry quickly selected the one he liked and two more backups. He asked if he could see them right away. After some negotiation he arranged a time and place to meet the woman and be shown the three houses that afternoon. He just hoped it wouldn't take long.

Leaving the agency, he found a dark corner and apparated near the Leaky Cauldron. The dark haired man decided he needed to be cautious and took out a watch from one of the trunks. It was one of the Weasley twin's creations and it changed his features slightly so that people wouldn't recognize him. He looked so much like his dad that it could be a problem. He quickly made his way towards Diagon Alley and then towards Gringotts. There he waited in line until a teller was free.

"Good morning, I need to open a new vault," Harry said. He had never learned the correct way to address the goblins and he wasn't sure many wizards knew or cared to know either. The goblin gave him a look of disinterest and told him to wait. He then spoke to another goblin, who fetched some papers and a special quill. Harry blanched when he realized what it was. The goblin beckoned him closer and pointed to the bottom of the first page for him to sign. Harry skimmed the paper, everything seemed in order, the usual fee for renting the vault, and then picked up the blood quill. With a light shudder, he signed the first paper and then the other four the goblin pointed at. The last few appeared to be some type of high security features, but Harry declined the service. The goblin gathered the papers and declared that vault 1046 was now his. Harry then requested the vault to be linked to a muggle bank account. He had been surprised when he discovered that the goblins provided that service, but apparently it was something that a lot of muggleborns and halfbloods did. The goblin presented him another stack of papers and Harry signed a few more times. Then, he was offered the muggle documents necessary to access that account. The fee was pretty expensive, but Harry had no other choice. He arranged for documents for Remus, Sirius, Teddy and little Harry under assumed names and some for himself as well not to arouse suspicions from the goblin.

Harry asked to be shown to the vault and another goblin was called to take him down. Before he knew it he was inside the empty vault. Harry unshrunk his two trunks and began taking the money and goods out. He only left a couple of things that he would need for the next steps of his plan.

After leaving Gringotts and eating some early lunch at the Leaky Cauldron, Harry apparated to his meeting point with the real estate agent. He then visited the three houses and made a decision in no time at all. It was not as perfect as it was in the future, needed a bit of work here and there, but it was good enough.

Harry made his offer to the seller, a price way above market value if he could move in tomorrow morning. They accepted and signed the papers.

One more step completed.


	3. The Longbottom family

The young man concentrated on his next destination. This would be the first time he explained his identity. He hoped they would believe him or at least hear his warnings. He opened his eyes to see Longbottom Manor.

Neville had told him about the wards around his manor, and what had originally happened that night. Like most pureblood homes, they used blood wards, not intent based ones. Barty Crouch Junior was not a known death eater and he was distantly related to Frank, Neville's dad. He was able to altered the code slightly so that he was accepted by the wards and then opened the door to the Lestranges. The four death eaters had consequently attacked the family that was inside the house. Harry couldn't help to be a little bit impressed by Crouch. The man might have been insane but he was a genius, that was a real subtle way to circumvent the wards.

The time traveler could stop that from happening that night or he could let them get inside and caught them in the act. Harry and his friends had agreed that the second choice was better because it pretty much guaranteed that the four death eaters would be send to Azkaban. However, they decided to present both options to Neville's parents and let them choose.

Harry took a deep breath and casted his Patronus. He needed to let them know he was there. Moreover, that would be the first piece of evidence for the Longbottoms. As they both knew, his father's Patronus was also a stag. He sent it with a simple message informing the couple there was someone waiting for them at their front entrance.

After a few minutes, a man and a woman some years older than him showed up. He had seen pictures of them both so he recognized them immediately as Alice and Frank. They were pointing their wands at him and wearing puzzled expressions on their faces.

"Who are you?" asked Alice "You aren't… You can't be…" She hesitated but Harry understood.

"No, I'm sorry, I'm not James Potter," he answered, wanting to kick himself. Of course they would think he was his father.

"I know, I noticed you are different, you look like him but not exactly. I just needed to be sure," said Alice sadly.

"You still haven't answered though, who are you? And what do you want with us?" asked Frank, not unkindly.

"I have a long story to tell you both, but it'll be better to get inside. I promise I mean you no harm at all," said Harry. "You can take my wand," he added seeing them hesitate.

"Okay then, you can come in," said Frank taking Harry's holly wand. "Welcome to Longbottom Manor."

"Thank you."

They followed the path towards the mansion and got inside. It was a really old house, tastefully decorated in brown tones. It really suited what Harry knew of Neville's family. He had only been there four times after the war but he couldn't see much of a difference. He glanced at his hosts, both wearing wizard's robes. Looking them from behind, Frank was extremely similar to Neville, who had inherited his build and height but Harry had already noticed that his friend's face had Alice's kind and soft features.

The pair led him towards a room with some comfortable sofas and a huge fireplace. He sat down, fidgeting a little. He couldn't mess this part up; it would be really helpful if the time traveler could get the Longbottoms to become his allies. They sat in front of him and stared at Harry, waiting for him to talk until Alice reacted.

"Oh where are my manners. Do you want anything to drink? I'll ask Blink to bring us some tea" and she promptly called the house elf. Ten minutes later, the three of them were drinking some tea and Harry was still at a loss of how to begin.

"I'm sorry, it's not an easy story to tell and you are the first people who I'm telling it to," mumbled Harry.

"Take your time," said Frank "Maybe you should start with your name?"

"My name is Harry James Potter."

They both gasped and look at each other.

"But that's not possible. Harry is not even two yet, he is the same age as our Neville," exclaimed Alice.

"I know; he is a good friend of mine." Harry smiled, remembering the brave man he left behind, "but I'm from the future, almost nineteen years from now." He could see that they didn't believe him. He sighed. "Maybe this will help?" he said taking a letter from his pocket. "It's a letter from Neville, my Neville, the twenty-year-old one."

Alice took it a little apprehensively. Frank shifted closer on the sofa to be able to read it with her. Harry didn't know exactly what it said, as he hadn't read it, but he knew that Neville was explaining what happened to them and, later, to him, so he wasn't surprised when he saw them tearing up. He concentrated on his cup of tea and ate some biscuits that Blink had brought.

Finally, they both looked up. Frank had his arms around his wife and tear tracks on his face. Alice was wearing a determined expression.

"Neville said you are here to help us, to change this future."

"Yes, I am," Harry answered firmly, relieved it was that easy to convinced them.

"I trust you, we'll help you however we can Harry," said Alice, while Frank nodded. "I'm your godmother after all."

"You are?" questioned Harry surprised. "No one ever told me that," he added bitterly.

"Yes I'm definitely your godmother; I've been trying to get custody of you since your parent's deaths. The ministry is a little chaotic right now with all the death eaters' trials and Dumbledore is interfering. He doesn't want me to take you in."

"That actually explains a lot. Thank you for telling me."

"You're welcome Harry," smiled Alice "Now, what is this plan of yours?"

"Well, I'm not sure how much Neville told you in the letter…"

"He said that four death eaters are coming tonight and they intend to torture us for information," Frank said, "that in your timeline they did it and we lost our minds." Alice hugged him and whispered some reassuring words to him.

"Did he explain about the wards?"

"Yes, that actually is a pretty clever way to bypass them. We'll need to fix that," frowned the man, deep in thought.

"I may have some ideas about that, but for tonight, I believe the best option is for them to succeed getting inside. That way you two can arrest them." The Longbottoms were aurors, dark wizards' catchers. That was one of the reasons they were being targeted.

"I don't like it, but I understand it. If we let them get away they might try again some other time," sighed Frank.

"We need to call somebody else though," said Alice "We need to even the odds."

"I was afraid you were going to say that," grimaced Harry. "I really don't want people to know about me."

"Is there anybody else who you are intending to tell and can be brought on board sooner?" asked Frank.

"Yeah… He was already my back up plan for tonight… But it will be difficult to explain to him. Maybe it'll be easier with you both already on board."

"Who is it?" asked Alice curiously.

"Alastor Moody."

They both blanched.

* * *

Frank and Alice were good people, decided Harry. Saving them had always been an important step in their plan to change the future, but Harry just wanted to protect them because he liked them. Hermione would have said it was his "saving people thing", but he knew that what was driving him was the thought of Neville being raised by this wonderful couple.

They have been talking and plotting for half an hour already. Alastor Moody was their boss, an extremely paranoid Auror. The three of them agreed it was best not to involve him in their planning. Instead, they would tip him off of a possible attack by Bellatrix Lestrange - a big fish the department had been pursuing for a while - and then let him know as soon as the death eaters arrive. Frank decided to go personally to the Ministry to talk to him about it. In the meantime, Alice took little Neville to stay with his grandmother for the night. The surreal effect of meeting his friend's counterpart was lessened slightly by the fact that the toddler didn't look anything like his older self. However, it did remind Harry of the eleven-year-old he had once met on the Hogwarts Express.

Two hours later, the atmosphere around the house had turned extremely tense. Harry didn't know exactly when the death eaters were supposed to arrive, so they were on high alert, Frank and Alice attempting to have a normal conversation and listening to every little noise at the same time. Meanwhile, Harry was waiting near the front door, wearing his invisibility cloak.

Suddenly, there was a screeching sound coming from the entrance. Harry uncovered his hand and signaled Frank, who instantly whispered "Expecto Patronum", sending a message to Moody. They kept the pretense of conversation until the front door was opened with a loud bang, sending the three of them into their defense positions. The four death eaters ran into the house shooting multicolored beams from their wands, leaving scorch marks on the hall walls and barely missing Harry. They approached the aurors, not noticing that Harry was following them. Frank and Alice deflected their attacks until a woman's voice called for a stop.

"Well, well, well it seems that they know how to play… Excellent, it's sooo boring when they don't fight back," Bellatrix Lestrange said in a sing song voice.

None of the death eaters were wearing masks, but Harry would have recognized her voice anyway. She was the person he hated the most, more than Umbridge and Voldemort combined, the woman that murdered his godfather and Tonks, that tortured the Longbottoms to insanity, attempted to murder Ginny, Luna and Hermione, and succeeded in countless other crimes… He felt rage pumping through his veins, and before he could help himself, he jumped into action and attacked her. She was dead before she hit the floor.

The rest of the people on the room stood there, shocked, until Rodolphus Lestrange screamed and began throwing curses and hexes to the spot where Harry was. That managed to snap the rest of them and beams of light were soon bouncing around the room. Alice was battling Barty Crouch Jr while her husband took on Rabastan Lestrange. They were even fighters, the six of them, so they were all panting and sporting numerous cuts and bruises when back up finally arrived.

Moody along with four Aurors reached the house at a run. Two of them covered the door of the living room, keeping them all inside, while Moody and a long haired man covered in freckles joined the fight and quickly managed to subdue both Barty and Rabastan. They left them stunned and bound on the floor and faced Rodolphus, who continued to attack everyone on sight until he was on the floor as well.

"That wasn't as hard as I thought," panted Alice, out of breath from the fight.

"They were not expecting resistance at all. I think this one was drunk," said Frank pointing at Rabastan and clutching his side where a spell had grazed him.

Harry silently agreed. Comparing with the last time he had fought all of them, they were quite a pathetic bunch, who probably only managed to defeat the Longbottoms the first time because they were caught unaware and with Neville in the house. He was glad he had taken Bellatrix early on though. She would have been a formidable opponent.

"Yes, yes, good job, but we should continue this conversation in the office. More could be coming," barked Moody. "Flint, Dawson, collect the prisoners and take them to processing. The Lestrange brothers will be going to Azkaban tonight. The kid will be kept in the Ministry's holding cells until the trial. Conelly, take Bellatrix to the Ministry morgue and begin with the paperwork."

After the aurors exchanged some words with the Longbottoms and gave Harry some curious looks, they moved to comply with Moody's orders. Moody waited until they were gone to confront them.

"What exactly happened here? The kid we captured is Crouch Jr, the son of the head of the DMLE!" he started cursing without waiting for an answer. "This is going to be a nightmare." Harry followed his movements with his eyes, assessing the man in front of him. He was a lot less scarred than the last time he saw him and he didn't have a magical eye. Other than his physical appearance, he was the same cranky man he respected, the one who died in a mission to protect him.

"You'll need to make sure he is convicted," stated Harry. "He is definitely a death eater, and a vicious one."

"And who the hell are you?" snarled the old Auror.

"He is the one who informed us of the attack sir," explained Frank.

"Is he now. And where did you get your information boy?"

Harry stayed silent.

"Answered to me lad, if you know something regarding free death eaters you need to tell us right now!" shouted Moody.

"I can't tell you anything. At least not today."

Moody studied him for some time. Keeping the eye contact with Harry, he asked Frank "Who of you killed the bitch?"

"He did," answered Frank, his voice quivering just a little. They all knew what that statement meant for Harry.

Moody's head moved to face the two aurors. "He used an Unforgivable? Does he know what it means for him?"

"I know," answered Harry quietly, "I'm ok with it. I was protecting people I care about."

"That's really commendable kid but you could have use a slicing charm or whatever to achieve the same thing. Civilians are not allowed to use Unforgivables. I need to take you in."

"I understand," replied the young man.

Moody narrowed his eyes. "You three are planning something. Are you going to make me lose my job?"

"I don't think so sir," said Frank, perfectly serious. "You are just doing what you are supposed to do in this scenario."

"I trust you Longbottom. I hope whatever it is you are doing is for a good cause."

"It is," answered Alice. "You know the Ministry is corrupt and many mistakes are made. We are just attempting to right a wrong."

"As long as you don't get anybody hurt, I'm ok with it," stated Moody. "Is there any way I can help?"

The three of them looked at each other. They had discussed the possibility of coming clean with Moody, but they hadn't expected him to offer his help without knowing the truth. They could delay explaining everything one more day. Time was of the essence.

"There is… If you could take him to Azkaban as soon as possible, expedite his processing. Also, he needs to be placed in the maximum security ward, or as close as possible. Ah and if he can keep the watch it would help a lot," listed Alice, grinning.

"Anything else?" asked Moody sarcastically.

"I think that's everything."

"Okay kid, we are going. Don't make me regret this."


	4. Rescuing Sirius

The fortress of Azkaban was situated on an island in the middle of nowhere. The only way in or out was by a small magic boat that needed the presence of at least two aurors. The prison was run practically by dementors. The soul sucking creatures thrived on the feelings of despair from the many convicts housed there. There were a few aurors in charge of the front entrance, but none throughout the rest of the fortress.

Sirius Black had been in that hell for 50 days. Not that he was counting of course. He was lucky he still got enough of his mind to remember who he was and why he was there. Every day he expected insanity to overcome him. He had already lost most of his happy memories. He couldn't remember his godson's face, the names of his friends, how it felt to be with them… But he knew he was innocent. That wasn't a happy thought, it was more of an obsession. He knew he was innocent and the rat had framed him. He wasn't sure the rat was alive at all, but if he was, he would get his revenge. Somehow.

He heard a noise coming from the end of the hall and quickly transformed back to his human self. He couldn't let anybody see Padfoot. It was his only defense against the monsters. Sitting with his back against the wall, as far as possible from the bars, he could see two dementors transporting a new prisoner when they passed in front of his cell. He did a double take. The face of the man… It was painfully familiar. Abandoning all caution, he got closer to the bars and attempted to see the man again. It wasn't difficult, as the guy was facing him, craning his neck to be able to watch him. His emerald eyes stared at him until a cell was opened and the dementors ushered him inside. He smiled and got in.

Smiling. The man was smiling in Azkaban. He was probably mad already.

Sirius turned into his dog form again and curled on the thin mattress. He closed his eyes and kept thinking of the strange prisoner. That face and those eyes, he was sure he knew him. But there was no point, he wouldn't be able to remember anything.

Sometime later, Sirius was still in the same position when a strange sound startled him. He had felt the cold intensifying a few seconds ago, which meant that the dementors were approaching to deliver some food for the prisoners. Soft whimpering from the rest of the inmates joined the noises of cells opening around him, as it usually happened when the soul sucking beings reached each cell and left small plates on the floor. However, that was not what surprised him. Another sound was coming from a couple of cells away, the slow and cautious steps of some kind of animal drawing near. His dog ears were up, following the movement, and his eyes were wide open, trying to make sense of the dark forms in front of him. The animal stopped on the other side of the bars and watched him. He couldn't see what it was yet, as his dark fur was lost against the background, but Sirius could clearly make out two bright eyes. He was whining softly, like he was attempting to tell him something, while moving his head and scratching the floor with his paws. Sirius didn't understand.

The dementors were about to open his cell next, so the animal backed off, dodging around the monsters with ease, until he was away from them. Then he turned around and stared at him again form the distance, nodding to the demons. That was when it clicked. The dementors didn't even notice him! Sirius had realized that his animagus form helped to withstand their effect, but he didn't know that they wouldn't be able to sense him. Preparing to make a run for it, he got up from the bed and walked towards the bars of his cell. He waited and as soon as the door was open he bolted. He shivered at the cold feeling coming from the beings, but he resisted the urge to lay down and kept advancing until he reached the other animal. Padfoot could see now it was a canine like himself.

The dog-like beast wagged his tail when Sirius arrived and immediately began moving forward. Sirius followed him all the way out of the fortress, wondering who the hell he was and why he was trusting him on this insane escape plan. They dodged many more dementors and hid three times when they encountered Aurors around the entrance of the prison, but finally, they were outside. Sirius breathed deeply and looked at the sky, savoring the feeling of freedom, even if it was that freezing air of Azkaban island. There were no stars or moon in sight, only darkness. The canine nudged him a little towards the edge of the water and Sirius looked at him, disbelieving. Were they supposed to swim all the way to the mainland? They wouldn't be able to make it!

Suddenly, in the spot where the canine used to be there was a man and Sirius realized it was the green-eyed stranger that he had seen earlier. He kneeled in front of him and talked to him "I know it is a long way to the mainland but you can do it Padfoot, I know you can. I promise you'll make it and then I'm taking you to Moony and Harry" He grabbed something from his wrist and offered it to him "This is a pepper-up pill, please take it, it will help"

Padfoot couldn't understand how this man knew his animagus name or knew Moony and Harry, but he felt he could trust him, so he swallowed the pill, instantly feeling stronger. He barked once and looked at the water and the man got it. He changed into his form, Sirius finally recognizing it as a big black wolf, and plunged head first into the cold sea. Hesitating a bit, the dog followed.

The journey was the most difficult thing Sirius had ever done. The freezing water numbed him to the point he could feel his eyelids dropping, but he kept pressing on, advancing towards his family. He could remember them now, his last remaining friend and his godson, he could see their faces clearly on his mind and that kept him motivated to succeed. He just hoped he'll be able to convince Remus that he was innocent. He was sure he believed him to be a traitor, after all, Sirius had suspected Remus first. But he buried those depressing thoughts for now and concentrated just on getting to the shore. He could see the wolf in front of him, a comforting presence never wavering, guiding him.

After what he thought have been hours of swimming, Padfoot was starting to get worried they wouldn't make it, their pace getting slower and slower. All the same, he was not a quitter and he would rather die there from exhaustion than live the rest of his life in Azkaban. Finally, he felt something under his front paws and with a final push, he was stepping on land.

Both wolf and dog walked shakily until they were far enough from the water and collapsed on the rocks. There they stayed, breathing heavily. Padfoot closed his eyes, fighting the tiredness that was compelling him to sleep…

* * *

The wolf opened his eyes and stood up. He had no time to waste, he wasn't sure how long he had been laying on the shore, but they needed to move. He looked to the left, finding Sirius fast asleep and sighed. He changed back to a man and walked towards some trees a short distance away. There he found the trunk Frank had left for them. It had been difficult to convince the kind man to just leave everything instead of staying there waiting for them. But that was a risk, an unnecessary one, so Harry was firm with his instructions; to leave the trunk and return to their manor. Harry did agree to go there before Remus' place.

He took out his wand, a couple of potions, chocolate and some warm clothes. He dried himself and got changed. Those Azkaban robes where disgusting. Harry returned to where Sirius was, waved his wand around drying him and cleaning him up a bit. He took a chocolate bar and nibbled on it, watching his godfather sleep. He really should be waking him up. He drank some potions to get some strength back in his body and finished his bar. He had to fight the emotions that threaten to overcome him while he sat near the man he loved like his own father. The man he had lost so many years ago. He still felt so guilty about Sirius death… But he was there now, alive, and Harry would make sure Sirius stayed that way.

* * *

Sirius felt a strong hand shaking him awake. He opened his eyes to see a concerned face close to him. James? No, the man was not wearing any glasses and besides, his face was different, not exactly like James… But definitely a Potter, the similarities were too much to be a coincidence. Sirius shifted to his human form and took another look. He could see now that the man's eyes were green. He remembered him now! Everything came back quickly, the wolf in front of his cell, the insane escape of Azkaban, how they swam all the way from the island… He couldn't believe it had been real.

"Who are you?" he said, his voice hoarse after two months of disuse.

"I shouldn't tell you yet but you can trust me. I got you out of there didn't I?"

"I suppose so…" he muttered, still suspicious.

"I've got some clothes for you, as well as chocolate and healing potions," the man stated, a bit hurt watching the distrust in Sirius' eyes. All right, he did save him from Azkaban, but the guy shouldn't have expected him to just believe in his good intentions. Who would save a stranger unless they have some ulterior motive? If he wasn't willing to explain his identity yet, he would have to bear the consequences.

Sirius stood up, swaying, and took everything the other guy was offering. He changed clothes and ate two chocolate bars before he began inspecting the potions with an expert eye. "I don't need those two," he said, returning them. "Thank you for everything," he added, attempting to be polite.

The green eye stranger smiled at him and took them back. He vanished the dirty rags and sat on the floor, just watching him. It was a bit unnerving to be studied like that but Sirius didn't comment. He was waiting to find out what this Potter wanted from him and where had he came from. After all, he thought he knew all of James' relatives and he had never seen this person before.

* * *

Harry smiled. It was surprising how clear-headed Sirius seemed to be already. He remembered how he had acted the first time he met him. He had rambled like a lunatic, fought with him, attacked his friend… However, he had been in Azkaban for twelve years. This time, he had spent less than two months in there.

"Are you a Potter?" Sirius asked in between sips.

"What? Why did you ask that?" Harry spluttered, surprised. He was still wearing the watch; he was supposed to be glamoured. Was Sirius able to see past the enchantments? They weren't very strong, now that he thought about it they have never fooled any of his friends, the people who knew him well enough to recognize him. He had been a fool to think he would have been able to hide from Sirius with it…

"Yes, I'm a Potter but you are not supposed to know yet. Please don't ask me any more questions. We need to get going, we are not safe here," he begged him, a little pathetically.

"All right little Potter, lead the way," joked Sirius, gesturing for him to move.

"Glad you are in such a good mood already," said Harry, rolling his eyes.

Harry then grabbed Sirius' arm and turned on the spot, thinking of Longbottom Manor. They apparated right in front of the entrance.

"Longbottom Manor?" asked Sirius. "Are you sure? They are both Aurors you know."

The animagus had known both Alice and Frank from school, as they were only two years older than him but he had only gotten closer to them later on when they all joined the Order. The couple had been particularly good friends with Lily and James though, bonding when both Alice and Lily got pregnant. Harry had found out all of that recently, after talking with Madam Longbottom, Neville's grandmother. It had saddened both Neville and Harry to know that, under different circumstances, they would have grown up together. That was one thing he was intending to change.

"I know. They also help me get you out. They believe you are innocent."

He could see a wave of relief washing over Sirius. He was realizing that not everyone thought he was a murderer.

"You said something about Remus and Harry earlier?" Sirius asked, while Harry was sending a Patronus to announce their arrival.

"Yes, I'm taking you to them, but first we need to discuss a few things. Don't worry, it'll be quick."

Alice was already there when he finished talking. "Sirius! I'm so happy you are here! Please come in, I'm giving you some food right away, you look like you need it." Alice hugged him tightly and led him towards the manor. She also greeted Harry with relief all over her face. She obviously had been worried about the time traveler.

They arrived at the dining room where Frank was waiting for them, feeding little Neville his breakfast. He stood up to greet them, with a huge smile on his face, slapping Sirius lightly on his back and then motioned for them to join him on the table. Not needing any more prompting they all sat down and ate. They made some small talk, but Harry stayed silent. He was bracing himself for the talk with Sirius. He was not sure how much he was willing to reveal yet.

After they have eaten, they moved to the living room, everyone sitting at the same places as the day before. Alice placed little Neville on a playpen with some toys and he happily sat there enjoying himself. Sirius plopped down on an armchair next to the fireplace. He cleared his throat.

"Not that I don't appreciate everything that you have already done for me, but I really want to know what's going on here. Why did you rescue me? Who are you? How did you know I was innocent? Did you catch Peter?"

Harry was surprised it had taken this long for Sirius to mention the rat. Apparently, his obsession had also been a part of the Azkaban induced madness. "To be able to explain all of that, first I need to tell you something important. I'm from the future."

Sirius shocked face changed into an angry one in no time. "That's not possible, you're lying to me. I thought you said you were going to explain things."

Harry covered his face with his hands. Trust Sirius to be difficult about this. He reached for the watch and took it off. "This watch has a glamour on it to disguise my features just a bit. But you were able to see through it anyways. Do you really not recognize your own godson now?" As his face changed to his true features, he could see the shock returning to Sirius own.

"Harry?" he whispered unbelieving.

"It's really him Sirius," said Frank. "He told us things that he wouldn't know otherwise."

"How is this possible? Why are you here?" asked his godfather.

Harry sighed, hating the need to talk about his timeline. "I came here to change the future. I used a ritual that allows me to stay here for three days, so I'm making as many changes as I can to be able to correct everything that went wrong the first time around. The future… It was a really bad place Sirius. The war left too much bigotry and corruption, the wizarding world needs to keep fighting to erase all of that. The consequences of ignoring the problem were a second war, worse than the first one, and many people dead. Above all of that though, I came here to save the people I care about." Harry was trembling while he said all this, a determined expression on his face, trying to make them understand how important his mission was.

"It's alright Harry, I get it," replied Sirius softly. "Those are the reasons why I joined the Order to begin with, you know? It wasn't just to fight death eaters or defeat Voldemort. Of course, that was important, but what I always wanted is to be able to protect my friends, and for them to be able to live in a world that wouldn't discriminate against them."

As always, Sirius knew just what to said to his godson. Harry could feel himself tear up, and he covered his face, embarrassed, but Sirius just sat down next to him and put an arm around his shoulders. "I'm sorry, I'm being stupid, I just missed you so much," sobbed Harry.

"You don't have to say sorry for that Harry," reassured Alice. "We understand this is difficult for you."

"So, I gather I died on your timeline. How long ago was it?" Sirius asked lightly.

"Sirius, don't be insensitive!" scolded Alice scandalized.

But Harry laughed at his godfather. He was alive and right next to him, so he was not going to lose himself in depressing memories. "Around four years ago. I didn't really know you that well, we never had much time together. I don't actually know if you used to have a job or where you used to live or what your favorite food is. But I always cared about you Sirius and when you died… It was the worst day of my life."

"You don't need to know much before starting to care about someone. I loved baby Harry since the day he was born. I cared about your dad since our first conversation. He was more of a family to me than my parents ever were." He said it all with a soft smile in his face, but it suddenly morphed into a teasing one. "Now, we should stop with all this sappiness and start making plans. You are from the future so tell us, who will win the next Quidditch world cup?"

Everybody laughed at this, Harry feeling most of the tension go. "I honestly don't have a clue. Besides Quidditch is too random, I doubt the results would be the same after how much we changed things." Sirius pouted comically.

"What a missed opportunity," he complained winking at his godson.

"It would take all the fun out of it Sirius!" exclaimed Frank.

"Too true my friend, too true."

Alice cleared her throat. "I'm sorry to be the one to bring us back to the point, but Harry was explaining him being here."

"Yes, you are right. Well, I've already done a lot to change things in this timeline, among them I rescued myself, let's just called him little Harry, from the hell where Dumbledore left him."

"Where was him?" asked Sirius frowning. "I assumed he would be with you guys or with Remus."

"He wasn't" answered Alice. "I've been trying to get custody of him, but he disappeared after that night. Dumbledore took him and he wouldn't say where, just that he was safe."

"I don't believe him. I trusted the old coot to keep my godson safe! I even gave my motorcycle to Hagrid that night so that he would take him somewhere safe! I love that motorcycle; I wonder where it is…"

"Sirius, please, focus," begged Alice. "The point is; Harry was taken to Petunia Dursley's house."

"WHAT! LILY'S MUGGLE SISTER?" shouted Sirius. "SHE HATED HER AND JAMES."

"We know Sirius, you should be shouting at Dumbledore, not us," answered Frank calmly, "you need to remember that he is not there anymore though, he is with Remus."

"Thank god, I don't want to picture what those people would do to my godson."

"You don't need to picture it, I can tell you," Harry said bitterly and Sirius blanched.

"You were raised by them? I'm so going to kill that fool. Leader of the light my ass, he kidnapped my godson!" barked Sirius, enraged. Harry placed a hand on his shoulder to calm him down.

"As much as I appreciate the support, we need to continue this conversation, Remus must be waiting for you." Sirius took some deep breaths and nodded so Harry continued "I left Remus a letter when I took Harry to him. It explained a few things, among them the main reason why both Dumbledore and Voldemort are interested in Harry and Neville. I can't explain much, it would take too long, so please, read the letter. Alice, Frank, you probably should go with Sirius to meet him."

The three adults looked at him with apprehension. "You did know that Voldemort was targeting both boys right?"

"No, actually, we didn't," answered Frank. "Dumbledore told us that Voldemort wanted to get revenge from us and to eliminate our families."

"Yeah, that's what he told James as well," said Sirius.

Harry put his hands on his temples, massaging them. "I've only been here a day and that man is already giving me a splitting headache. That's not the truth at all. The kids were targeted, they are both going to be extremely powerful wizards, so there will always be people who want to control them, but there is also a more specific reason why they were interested in them both and now in little Harry in particular."

"And the reason is…" prompted Sirius.

"Too long to explain" and his godfather slumped in disappointment. "Before we get going, the plan right now it's for you Sirius to stay with Remus, Harry and someone else you'll get to meet today in a house I purchased for you four. Here is the paperwork." He took the trunk out of his pocket and found the deed of the house.

"Wow, thanks, you are the best godson ever!" laughed Sirius.

"Don't worry, most of my money came from the Black family fortune." Harry winked at his surprised godfather, "speaking about money, I also arranged for a new vault for you and Remus. Inside you'll find not only a substantial amount of galleons but also all the relevant information that I brought from the future. Take this box with you, it contains the key to the vault and some other things that may be useful."

"Are we talking about that information yet?" asked Frank, interested.

"No, I'm sorry. You'll have to wait till tomorrow. I propose we all meet tomorrow morning at the new house. We'll discuss everything there, I promise. One more thing you are taking Sirius, there is another letter for Remus inside the package I gave you. This one is more private so ask him if he is willing to share its contents."

"Okay Harry, but what are you going to do today?" inquired Alice, worried. "If I am not mistaken you haven't slept in more than 24 hours."

"I think I'm closer to 30 to be honest," replied Harry cheekily. "You are right, I need to get a couple of hours of sleep, do you mind if I stay here for a while?"

"Stay as long as you need Harry," said Frank. "I'll ask Blink to prepare a room for you."

"Thank you Frank, Alice. Before I forget, there might be some inaccuracies in this letter, given that I wrote it before coming back so I had to assume a couple of things. For starters, you are not dosed with a sleeping potion. You might want to take one though, you'll need to sleep as well. There is some inside the package."

"Anything else?" asked Sirius, impatient. He was already on his feet, ready to go meet his friend. He was dissapointed that Harry was not going with them, but at least he was going to see little Harry.

Harry grinned at the sight of his childish behavior. "No, I think that's everything, you can go now. See you tomorrow."

The three adults say their goodbyes and left. Harry stayed there for a while, thinking of the next steps of his plan, and realized something. Sirius had only asked about Peter once and then forgotten about it. He really was different than the man he remembered.


	5. The reunion

Remus was fidgeting. He had spent the better part of the previous day sleeping, and he felt more rested than he had been in weeks. Now, the problem was the lack of anything to do. The kids were still under the influence of the potions, he had placed them in his own room and prepared the guest room for Sirius. He had also started to pack most of his possessions. Remus knew that they couldn't stay in his cottage for long, it was the first place where anyone would think to look for the missing Harry and the escaped Sirius. He was worried though. He didn't know where they would go, as he didn't have any money and Sirius had spent most of his buying his flat. That flat was not an option either, Dumbledore and the Ministry knew about it.

That was another thing that worried him. Dumbledore had always been there for him, he was his hero, the kind headmaster who looked past his condition and allowed him to go to Hogwarts. However, he couldn't ignore everything he learned from the letter. Dumbledore was responsible for leaving Harry in a horrible home. The old man had kept his cub from him and from his godmother, Alice, just so that he could enact some blood magic which was not guaranteed to work. That was the most ridiculous thing he ever heard and he had been friends with Sirius Black and James Potter for ten years! And that was just the tip of the iceberg, the headmaster had let Sirius be send to Azkaban without a trial! He was the head of the Wizengamot, he had the power to stop that from happening and he had decided not to use it. If that was the way he was going to treat Order members, he was glad the organization had already disbanded.

Moreover, the headmaster and Order leader had kept all that prophecy business secret. He was certain Dumbledore had never spoken to James and Lily about it, he convinced them to hide by telling them some tale about being targeted for their Order work and their defiance to Voldemort. Remus wasn't convinced about what the prophecy said either, he had never put much stock on divinations. Nevertheless, he had heard the rumors about a hall in the Department of Mysteries full with all the "real" prophecies to study. It didn't matter to him if it was supposed to be real or not, he would protect Harry from it even if he had to kill Voldemort himself.

The dawn was breaking and Remus stood and began pacing. The writer of the letter had said to expect them that night or more likely that morning. It was already morning and Remus was a nervous wreck. What would happen if they didn't show up? He didn't know what he could do, maybe talk to some of his old Order friends? But they would probably tell Dumbledore…

"Stop being such a pessimist, they will be here," he chastised himself. "You just have to be patient for a little while longer…" And then a soft wail startled him. He looked around widely until he identified the noise. It was coming from his room, finally one of the kids was up! He ran upstairs and found Teddy standing in the crib with a look of anger in his face.

"I'm no baby, no crib!" he declared. Chuckling a bit, Remus put him down on the floor. Apparently Teddy spoke already and could walk as well, although a bit wobbly. He held his hand and introduced himself. "Hi Teddy, I'm your dad, Remus."

Teddy looked up at him with a look of wonder in his eyes. "Really? Harry said I'm living with daddy now."

"Harry told you?" asked Remus looking at the toddler still fast asleep.

"Not that Harry," said Teddy as it was obvious, "godfather Harry."

"Your godfather's name is Harry?" questioned the werewolf, thinking of the writer. He could very well be Teddy's godfather, but Remus didn't know any other Harry.

"Aha," nodded Teddy.

Remus was going to keep asking questions when he heard a knock on the front door. As fast as he could, he picked up Teddy, ignoring his protests that he was too old to be held, and took out his wand. He approached the door carefully.

"Who is it?" he asked, feeling foolish. There were only two people who could get past his wards; Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew. He needed to change that, he had forgotten that little detail.

"Moony, just open the door already, I want to see my godson," whined Sirius on the other side.

Remus was smiling so much that it was painful. "Not until I make sure is really you. Tell me who was your first kiss?" teased the sandy haired man.

"Come on Remus, you promised never to talk about it!" complained the animagus.

"Answer it Padfoot or you're staying outside," laughed Remus.

"It was James," grumbled Sirius, and two surprised snorts could be heard from the other side of the door, "but I was drunk and Remus dared me to do it!"

Remus, however, was not laughing anymore. He held his wand tight in his right hand and Teddy close to his chest with his left arm. "Sirius, who else is there with you?" he asked calmly.

"Ah yes, I'm sorry I should have warned you. Frank and Alice are here with me."

"All right, I'm opening the door."

Remus stared at the sight in front of him. Sirius looked a bit haggard, with bags under his eyes and way too skinny, but he was dressed in clean clothes and grinning just as much as Remus. Sirius stepped inside and embraced his best friend, mindful of the kid trapped in the middle of the hug. Finally, he pulled out and looked at the boy.

"That's not Harry," he stated, "he has purple hair!"

"Purple?" asked Remus surprised and looked at Teddy. It was indeed purple. "It was blue earlier."

"It's cause I'm a metham'agus," explained Teddy, a little intimidated with the new arrivals.

"You mean a metamorphmagus?" asked Sirius. "Just like my cousin Dora."

Remus then put the boy back on the floor and greeted the Longbottoms. They had Neville with them, who was watching everything with interest and waved happily at them.

"It's really good to see you Remus," said Alice, "but where is my little godson? And who is this amazing boy?" she asked, as Teddy beamed at the praise.

"Well, it's a bit of a long story, maybe we should all sit down first... Harry is upstairs still asleep if you want to see him."

The three adults left to check on Harry, while Remus took Teddy and Neville to the kitchen. There he sat them down and poured some cereal for his son. He asked Neville if he wanted some and he politely declined. Minutes later, he was sharing some of the cereal from Teddy's bowl, but as none of the boys seem to mind Remus let them be.

He prepared some breakfast for himself and sat down watching the children playing with the food. He was so cheerful to have all of them there that he didn't even care if he couldn't understand half of what was going on. Why did Alice and Frank show up with Sirius? Did they write the letter? Remus didn't think so, but then where was the writer? He said that he was going to bring Sirius to the cottage…

He heard the adults coming down the stairs and he grinned when Sirius arrived with Harry on his arms. His friend saw the look and smiled sheepishly.

"I just couldn't let go of him yet," he tried to explain.

"It's okay Sirius, I get it. He should be waking up soon anyways. Do any of you want something to eat?"

"No, thank you Remus, I rather we talk. We have much to discuss," sighed Frank.

They all sat down around the kitchen table, Sirius mindful of his sleeping godson, and looked up at Remus.

"Well, firstly I want to introduce you to Teddy here. He is my son," declared Remus awkwardly, ruffling Teddy's hair and making some of the cereal that somehow had ended there fall to the floor.

"Your son?" asked Sirius surprised, "when did that happened?"

"I'm not sure… You know I'm always careful… I don't recall any instances when this could have happened" clarified Remus shaking his head "but the wolf can tell he is mine. Yesterday morning Teddy and Harry showed up outside my house with just a package and inside of it there was a letter. The letter said among other things that Teddy is my son."

"That explains it," muttered Alice pensively.

"Does it?" asked Remus and Sirius at the same time.

"Yes, of course. Sirius, you should give Remus the second letter," indicated Alice.

"You are right; he might have written about Teddy in it. He said it was personal," agreed Sirius, handing the werewolf a box and some papers. "The letter should be inside the box."

"Do you think you can let us read the first letter in the meantime?" requested Frank. "The writer told us that there was information concerning Neville in there."

"Sure, go ahead" answered Remus distractedly. He was looking over the papers he had received from Sirius. His eyes widened. "Sirius, this is the deed to a house!"

"Ah yes, it's a new house for us. That is, if you agree to live with an escaped prisoner and two toddlers," answered Sirius merrily.

"What? How? Where did you get this?" asked Remus, shocked out of his mind; it wasn't everyday that he was handed a house free of charge.

"I told you already didn't I? The time traveler gave me everything," answered Sirius.

"Time traveler?"

"Upps I guess you didn't know that yet…" said the animagus guiltily, "better start reading that letter before we continue talking."

"Okay, okay…" Remus handed the first letter to Frank and took the second one from the box. He could see that there was a lot more inside, like some potions and the key to a Gringotts vault. He shook his head, bemused, and concentrated on the new letter.

_Dear Remus,_

_If you got this letter, it means that my plan was a success and Sirius is out. He_ ' _ll need some time to recover, but with you and the boys there he will. However, he is a bit obsessed so he will ask about Pettigrew as soon as he wakes up. Please tell him that I know where he is and I will take care of him. I will try to get Sirius name cleared._

_I know you probably have a million questions right know and I will do my best to answer them. First, I talked about a plan and yes I have one. I didn't just get up one day and decided to kidnap Harry Potter and save Sirius Black. This plan has taken me years. How is that possible? Well, I'm from the future. I'm pretty sure your first reaction will be to think that I'm crazy or a liar, but I assure you, I'm not._

_Before I start to explain all that, I need to soothe some of your worries. How will a werewolf with no stable income be able to take care of two toddlers and an escape convict? Well, I left some stuff that will definitely help. For starters, you probably noticed that the first package is full with bottles of some potion. The name is Wolfsbane, and it will be invented a couple of years from now. You_ ' _ll have to take it the day before the full moon and it will enable you to transform without losing your mind. I don't think it helps much with the pain, I'm really sorry, but you won't be a mindless beast anymore and you won't hurt yourself or anybody else. So, no monster excuse to keep you from your family. Yes, they are your family, start acting like it. There is enough for at least three years, as it_ ' _s as long as you can put it in a stasis charm without ruining them._

 _The second gift is in the second package. Is the key to a Gringotts vault. Inside the vault there is enough money for you all. It will last long enough for Sirius to get his Black inheritance. You will also find information regarding the Wolfsbane potion and how to make it. I hope Sirius will be able to help you with that, I know you are not the best in that area. If he can't do it either, you_ ' _ll have to find someone you absolutely trust to keep this a secret. Now Remus, I know you don't like accepting money, but this isn't charity. Think of it as an inheritance. This used to belong to people who are no longer with us and wanted to help your family. So please, accept it._

 _There is a lot more information on the vault, but we_ ' _ll get to it. Another important thing is the deed to a house in a muggle neighborhood, a muggle bank account and muggle documents for you four. I hope you don't mind the names I chose. Harry will be Sirius_ ' _son and Teddy yours, two single parents living together with their sons to help each other out. You_ ' _ll need to move out to your new home as soon as possible. I know you probably understand why the muggle world, but in case you don't, I_ ' _ll explain. You need the anonymity to raise Harry without his fame being an issue. And you need to disappear to be able to protect yourselves better. Moreover, it doesn't hurt to understand the world we live in and it involves both the muggle and magical one._

 _The house has a reinforced basement for your transformations and it_ ' _s isolated enough for you to ward it to the full extent of your capabilities. I left some ideas about this. One of them is an experimental ward, similar to the one that Dumbledore intended to use for Harry. It won't need a blood relation to serve as base, as it has already happened with Lily_ 's _sacrifice. The ward just keeps the sacrifice alive by feeding it with family love. It sounds sappy, I know, but I believe it_ ' _ll work._

 _I_ ' _ll see you at your new house tomorrow for the in-depth explanations. You can leave the kids with Alice Longbottom while you go to Gringotts, she won't ask awkward questions. Alice and Frank will join us tomorrow morning, they are trustworthy and deserve to know the truth. Don't worry about Sirius, we_ ' _ll explain that as well._

 _Now that all the practical stuff is over, I_ ' _ll tell you a little bit about the future. It isn't good Remus. As you may suspect, Voldemort wasn't killed on October 31_ _st_ _. His physical body was destroyed, but he had made some rituals that allowed him to be close to immortality. I won't explain everything right now but suffice it to say that in my timeline he eventually_ _came back. The Order of the Phoenix tried to stand up to him, but couldn't do much. Albus Dumbledore might be a great wizard, but he is not a great war leader. I know it's difficult for you to hear this, he is your hero, but he is just a person and he makes mistakes. The problem is that his mistakes are usually huge and ruin people lives, like Harry's and Sirius_ ' _._

 _The future can be rewritten and that is what I_ ' _m trying to do. The second war eventually came to end on May 2_ _nd_ _1998 with the Battle of Hogwarts and the death of Voldemort, this time for good. But it came as such a high price... So many people died, so many children... The battle was on Hogwarts grounds, so children were the ones fighting. You died there Remus, along with your wife. I won't tell you her name yet. You left behind a month old baby, Teddy._

 _I_ ' _m Teddy's godfather so I took care of him. I love him as my own. You might want to tell me that it was worth it, the deaths, all so that children may live in a world without Voldemort. I might have agreed with you two years ago. But I can't, not anymore. The bigotry and corruption of our world are the biggest issue and they are still alive. Death eaters may have been imprisoned, but their ideas are free. I have no doubts that another war will start soon enough and I can't live through it, not again. I'm a very public figure in our world so I can't just disappear. I was attacked four times since the war ended. My girlfriend died a month after the final battle and his brother, one of my best friends, with her. Teddy's grandmother lost everything but him during the war and couldn't move on, so she committed suicide. I don't have many people in my life right now but we all agreed that we couldn't go on like this. We discussed what to do but no solutions were coming. So, my remaining best friend and I decided between two options: we could live as muggles, escape the wizarding world with just Teddy, gave up everything and anyone we knew or we could change things for the better. And the change needed to be in the past._

_We spent two years researching the ritual that will take me back. I won't have that much time as it only gives me three days in the past. But don't worry, Teddy will stay. My timeline will disappear as we change events and many children won't be born because of it. Also, many others will be born because of it. I don't feel guilty, as I know the end result will be better than the first one. It has to be better. However, I can't let Teddy disappear. I love him too much to do that to him. So I'm bringing him with me. I'm sorry I won't be able to help raise him but I know he'll be happy with his father and uncle Sirius._

_I don't want the ritual to fall into the wrong hands, so I'm not going to tell you more about it. I'll, however, tell you more about Teddy's family. I'm not sure if you should contact his maternal family, as his mum is, at your time, only ten years old. Talk about an awkward conversation! But you shouldn't feel weird about the age difference. I can tell you it didn't matter to her at all. You were so happy together, I've never seen you like that before. The day Teddy was born, you were so excited you wouldn't shut up about it, showing his picture around to everyone who would listen to you. It was adorable and hilarious at the same time. And so uplifting, as we were in the middle of the war. You got married during the war as well so I couldn't be there but I'll always remember your wife's smile when she told me that you finally tied the knot. She had been pursuing you for a while, you always rebuffed her telling her that you were too old, too poor, too dangerous. Lucky for you, she is even more stubborn than yourself so she never gave up. I hope you don't give up on her this time around either, even if you have to wait for her a few years. What can I say? I'm a romantic at heart._

_I know it's a difficult situation, but maybe you can contact Teddy's grandparents. They loved you Remus, they welcomed you into their family with open arms. I know your death was a hard blow on Teddy's grandmother as well. My advice is to wait until next year when his mum goes to Hogwarts, then you can talk to them. They'll most definitely want to be in Teddy's life and I don't think you should keep them from him. I left all their information inside a folder in the vault. Maybe you'll guess their identities before reading it, but in any case, there it is._

_I_ ' _m not sure if you have figured out who I am yet, but I_ ' _ll wait until tomorrow to confirm anything. For now, please only read the folders that I told you about. I trust that you understand how important it is for me to tell you the story in order, so don't open them until tomorrow. I promise, I'll be there._

_See you soon,_

_Teddy's godfather_

Remus teared up a little reading those words. Someone who cared so much about him to do all of this… He had no doubts, the writer was Harry Potter, from around 20 years in the future. He wondered if the other three knew this yet. They apparently had talked to him in person, so his guess was that they knew. There was no way that Sirius wouldn't recognize him, twenty years older or not.

He kept thinking about the letter while he waited for the other three to finish with their own. The life that awaited him if he accepted what older Harry was offering… Who was he kidding? Of course he would accept it, he had already done so the second he saw Harry and Teddy in front of his house. He had always wanted to have a family of his own. This may be an unconventional way to get one, but he didn't care. He was delighted. Remus was still a little apprehensive about this Wolfsbane potion Harry described, but he trusted him. If Harry said it was safe, he believed him, and he was sure Sirius would have no problem brewing it from him. Remus frowned. Didn't Harry know that Sirius was excellent at Potions? He had been training to become a healer! Maybe something changed in the future and Sirius didn't like to brew anymore… But that was not the only strange thing he said about Sirius, he said that he would be obsessed about Pettigrew but he hadn't mentioned him once. Maybe he talked about it with Harry before arriving there? He should discuss that with his best friend.

He looked up. The Longbottoms were quietly debating about the contents of the letter while Sirius finished reading it. His friend was frowning, which didn't surprise him at all. The kids had eaten all the cereal and were banging their glasses on the table. He lowered them both to the floor and fetched some of the toys that were in the previous day pack. When he returned to the kitchen, the three adults were discussing a really sore topic for him, Albus Dumbledore.

"We could make a case against him for kidnapping" was saying Sirius, "he had no right to take Harry."

"I don't think that's a good idea Sirius, we didn't exactly take Harry legally either," refuted Frank reasonably.

"There has to be something we can do!" exclaimed Sirius, frustrated, "the old guy manipulated all of us, he threw me in Azkaban and Harry in Durzkaban."

"We know that now Sirius," said Remus tiredly, "but the only thing we can do is to get away from him and his mind games."

"I agree; there's not much you can do against him. He is the Headmaster of Hogwarts, the head of the Wizengamot and the self-proclaimed leader of the light," listed Alice.

"All right, I'm outnumbered, I'll drop it for now. Are we going to talk about all that prophecy business?"

Remus snorted. "I think it's crap."

"Well put Moony," sniggered Sirius, "but to be honest, I believe he is right about the two assholes enacting it as well. As long as they act like the prophecy is real, Voldemort is going to try to kill Harry and Dumbledore is going to let him, thinking it was foretold."

Silence followed that statement. Even after all they've found out about Dumbledore, it was difficult to believe he would push a child against a powerful dark lord.

"We just need to kill Voldemort ourselves then," declared Remus, "then the prophecy will be null and void."

"If only it was that easy Remus… I'm not sure if we can just do that, work against an active prophecy," pondered Alice.

"Are we sure that Voldemort is alive though?" asked Frank. "What happened to him in Halloween?"

"I think you should read the second letter; it explains some of what happened," offered Remus.

"Are you sure? Harry told us it was a bit personal," said Frank.

"I knew it! Harry is the time traveler!" smirked the werewolf.

"Eh… I thought he told you in the letter…" muttered Fran embarrassed.

"Don't worry, he insinuated enough that I've guessed it." Remus then handed over the note and went to find the two toddlers, that had wondered off to the living room. He found them both happily playing with some cars and a train on the floor, all the chairs pushed out of the way. He chuckled watching them shouting and making engine noises while moving the vehicles around the place. He left them there without disturbing their game and returned to the kitchen.

Sirius was just finishing and he could see a smirk on his face as he left the paper on the table. He stared at Remus and asked "have you guessed the name of your future wife yet?"

"That's what you want to ask after reading everything there is in that letter?" said Remus exasperated. "No, I honestly hadn't thought much about it, Harry said she is only ten right now so I rather not know or I would feel a little creeped out."

"Well, whenever you want to find out, I'm pretty sure I know," said Sirius grinning at the blushing Remus, "and I got to say, I'm proud of you, marrying someone twelve years younger… You always manage to surprise me Moony."

Alice coughed, pointedly interrupting the banter between the two friends.

"Let's just concentrate," sighed the woman, "the letter said that Voldemort is definitely alive and that Harry will tell us more about it tomorrow. So, we can drop that topic for now. What do you guys think about everything he arranged for you? Are you going to be able to live in the muggle world, hiding your identities?"

"I think is awesome, I can't wait to see the house," answered Sirius excitedly, "and he is leaving us money too so we won't have any problems to care for the kids. I'm quite worried about the names he picked for us though. What if it's something awful like Robert? It wouldn't suit me at all."

The other three ignored his last comment. "He did cover everything you'll need. I'm certain you'll be able to give those boys the life they deserve," approved Frank.

"And... what about the potion he brought for me?" Remus asked hesitantly. "Do you believe it'll work as well as he says?"

"Of course Remus, he wouldn't have told you that otherwise," reassured Alice, her voice soft, "and I'm sure that Sirius will be more than happy to brew it for you."

"You don't even have to ask mate; I'm already planning on doing it," clarified Sirius. Remus felt warmed up, glad to have his friend back for good. He wasn't sure how he had managed to survive alone those two months. And even before, during the war, when their whole group of friends had been so distant around each other, all of them doing different work for the Order, not being able to reveal any details. That was another thing to blame on the great Albus freaking Dumbledore.

Remus tried to push those thoughts aside. "I should get going to Gringotts to fetch everything. I wonder why he didn't leave the documents here earlier."

"Well, he told us he didn't want to overwhelm you with information from the start. That's why he wrote those letters, with all the important facts you needed to know as early as possible," explained Frank.

"Yeah, as you can see he didn't tell us much either. He said that he needed to describe everything in detail and it would take time that he didn't have, so he organized the meeting for tomorrow. I gathered that all the other steps of his plans would be ready by then," concluded Alice.

"I'll wait for tomorrow then," accepted the sandy haired man. "Meanwhile, I'm heading to Gringotts. Are you staying here Alice, Frank?"

"Yes, don't worry, we'll look after the kids," answered Alice.

"Hey! I'm here too!" complained Sirius.

"I know Sirius, but shouldn't you get some sleep? You look exhausted," pointed Remus.

"Look who is talking," countered the animagus under his breath.

Remus ignored him. "There are some sleeping potions in the box Harry left. Please Sirius, take some and get some rest." He noticed his friend glancing at Harry so he continued a bit more gently. "Harry will still be here when you wake up."

The animagus reluctantly agreed and left the kid with Alice. He then grabbed one of the potions and stood up to leave. "And please, take a shower!" shouted Remus at his retreating back. Sirius turned around and stuck his tongue out at him.

Remus laughed and stood up as well. He grabbed the key from the box still on the kitchen table, said goodbye to Teddy and Neville who were still playing on the living room and walked out, eager to take care of their business and return home as soon as possible.


	6. Finding allies

Harry rubbed his hands over his eyes and yawned widely. He had around eight hours of sleep, but he didn't feel rested. He suspected it was a side effect of the ritual; the timeline was fighting against his presence there. There couldn't be two Harry Potters at the same time. Harry hoped he would last as long as they had estimated, there were many things still left to do.

The dark haired man concentrated on the building in front of him. He was under his cloak, waiting for a woman to exit the offices of the Daily Prophet. The woman's name was Rita Skeeter, a reporter that was known because of her sensationalists stories, which fascinated thousands of readers. She was just what they needed to spread around some scandalous truths.

He spotted the door swinging and then a few people walking out. He struggled to recognize Rita, as she looked very different from the last time he had seen her, but she was definitely one of them. The group was chatting amicably and began moving towards the end of the alley. There they split up, some of them going into the Leaky Cauldron and several to the sides streets to the right of Diagon Alley, Rita among the latter. Harry kept following her until she was alone, then he looked around, checking that there were no witnesses, and silently stunned her.

* * *

Rita woke up a few minutes later on a completely different place. She was in a rundown house, her legs magically strapped to a chair and a cup of tea in front of her. She was starting to panic when a young dark haired man showed up, stepping out from the shadows.

"You don't have to worry Miss Skeeter, I mean you no harm," stated the man calmly.

"You have a nice way of showing it then. You abducted me and strapped me to a chair!" shrieked the woman, "are you doing it as revenge from one of my stories?"

The guy seemed to find that humorous. Rita feared for a moment she had made the mistake to mess with the wrong person. She always tried to be careful with the kind of people she slandered with her stories, only targeting ones that wouldn't fight her. It may seem cowardly, but it kept her alive.

"No, Miss Skeeter. I have a business proposition for you, and as this will be a rather delicate conversation, I needed to get you to a safe location."

Rita's eyes shone with greed. "A business proposition? Do you have dirt on someone? The Minister of Magic? The boy-who-lived?" she could barely contain her excitement.

The man gave an unimpressed look at her behavior. He obviously despised her attitude towards gossip, but if he did, what did he want from her? She was a reporter; gossip was her business!

"Not exactly the Minister, but the Head of the Department of Law Enforcement and Albus Dumbledore," corrected her captor.

Rita was a little doubtful, but took the folder that he offered her and started to read it. "Is this for real? They sent a man to prison without a trial because of his family name? This is gold!" she exclaimed happily.

The young man rolled his eyes. "Yes, Miss Skeeter, all the information in there is accurate. As you can see, the Head of the DMLE abused his power and condemned an innocent man to hell. I intend to find the real culprit, but it will help if the public is in our side. If you decide to run this story from the angle of the poor misunderstood Sirius Black and the evil men in power, I can guarantee you'll have a lot more material to write about."

The reporter pondered on it for a minute. The Daily Prophet had already run some stories denouncing the heinous crimes of mass murderer Sirius Black, but that approach was over and done with. They couldn't keep talking about the same old tragedies. This fresh angle however, blaming everything on Bartemius Crouch, a man who was ruthless and not very likable now that they were not at war…

"I can probably make the Barty Crouch angle work. Dumbledore though, that's going to be a tough sell. People love his grandfatherly act and won't believe he did something like this," she pointed out.

"I know; this won't be enough to break that image. Nevertheless, you can write about his involvement and some people might start doubting some of his decisions…" suggested the dark haired man "besides, I'll eventually supply more dirt on him. This is just the beginning. For now, let's concentrate on Crouch. Here you can find something else you'll like." He handed her a second folder.

She read through it in a flash, her eyes widening. "This is even better!" she shrieked, "his own son was caught? How did they keep this quiet?" she asked.

"He was only caught last night, I'm not sure if they even set a day for his trial yet," clarified her captor.

"So how do you know about all of this?" asked Rita, suspiciously.

"You have your secrets Miss Skeeter, I have mine. If you are interested, we can make a deal and I'll continue to provide you with newsworthy information. However, I do have conditions."

"And those conditions are…?"

"You need to tell the truth, always. You can't just assume facts, you are a reporter, investigate. If you begin spreading lies around, I'll just find myself a better person to work with. I don't mind you insinuating some things when you have a base to work on, but don't pretend it's more than it really is, just suppositions and personal views on a matter."

Rita didn't even think about it. If this man kept bringing her this type of stories, there was no need for her to invent anything scandalous, the truth was brilliant enough! "I agree with your terms," she accepted, "as long as you keep providing me with more wonderful tales."

"Well, to be honest I won't be able to have further contact with you. But I can assure you that one of my associates will send you enough information to keep you busy for a while," explained the guy. "He goes by the name Snuffles."

Rita snorted. What a threatening name… She would enjoy working with these people. "All right, I'm in."

He smirked, pleased. "I'm glad Miss Skeeter. Please expect the next communication in about two days" and with that he flicked his wand, freeing her legs from the chair and dissaparated.

* * *

Harry had been pacing for the last fifteen minutes. He was outside the wards of Longbottom Manor, trying to gather the courage for the next phase of his plan. He had been against this course of action, but he had been overruled by Hermione and then by Alice and Frank. His goal was simple; to get Peter Pettigrew to clear Sirius' name. However, he was not sure how he would react to the sight of the Burrow and the young Weasleys. That house could bring some painful memories for him and the people in it even more. He had been mourning Ron and Ginny for two years, but he was nowhere near ready to see their younger selves and keep his cool.

For that same reason, Hermione, Luna and Neville had agreed that he would need to get help. That was always difficult for the dark haired man, but in this case would probably be even painful. He was going to see Alastor Moody after all.

* * *

Alastor Moody was not paranoid. He knew what the young aurors whispered about him, but he was just prepared. If only he could get that inside their thick skulls, maybe some of them will have less chances of dying on the job, under his watch. He grunted. An impossible task if he ever saw one.

The Longbottom couple, however, were among the best of his junior aurors. He trusted them, but he could tell that they were doing something outside the law. All that business with the kid who had killed the Lestrange woman… Moody had done what he had to do, even if he didn't agree. Sending that young man to Azkaban for doing the right thing was a course of action he would have fought, but none of the three wanted him to do that. And then, both the kid and Black had vanished from prison. Nobody had ever been able to do that before. The experienced auror was reluctantly impressed. He had no doubts that it was the young man's doing. Why else would he want to go to that hell? Nevertheless, he didn't understand why Black, why would he want to free a mass murderer? Black did deserve Azkaban, that was for sure.

Moody was not pleased with the Longbottom family. He had trusted them and now Black was free. He had spent all day organizing the manhunt for the fugitive and he was not in a good mood. Alice had said that they were "trying to right a wrong" whatever that meant. So, when he received an invitation from Frank to go to their home after work so they could explain a few things to him, he gladly accepted. At the very least, he would be able to yell at them for a bit.

He apparated to the manor a few minutes after six. He had access to the house, so he didn't bother to let them know he was there and just entered the property. As soon as he was inside, he was on the other end of a wand. He looked at the person holding it and found the mysterious man he had taken to Azkaban the day before.

"You!" he roared. "You have some explaining to do kid."

The young man lowered his wand and Moody took advantage of it. He quickly tried to stun him, but the kid was fast and dodged it. He looked at him in surprise, like he hadn't expected the attack and Moody felt a pang of guilt. It disappeared fast though, as soon as the other man raised his own wand and took a defensive position. The old auror then sent him several spells, attempting to contain him, but his opponent countered them all and sent some of his own. He was a pretty good dueler, but it was clear he had never been formally trained. It was all raw power and good reflexes. After exchanging a few spells, Moody easily took him down after distracting him with some flashing lights.

Moody then pondered what to do. He should arrest him, but how could they be sure he wouldn't escape again, this time taking another death eater? Moreover, the auror wanted an explanation. He decided to interrogate him, right there. He strapped him to a chair and woke him up.

* * *

Harry slowly opened his eyes and took on the scene in front of him. Alastor Moody was holding his wand close to his face and he was completely immobilized, tied to a chair with thick ropes. He groaned. How could he be that stupid? He should have asked Frank to be there with him. He had thought that after last night, Moody would be at least willing to listen to him, but clearly that was not the case.

"I think now it's the time when you come clean with me," the old auror grumbled.

"Yes sir, that's the reason I'm here in the first place," clarified Harry, "I asked Frank to send you that message"

"Where are the Longbottoms then?" asked Moody, narrowing his eyes.

"They are busy helping some friends move out to a new house."

Moody huffed "and why should I believe that?"

"Well, do you have any Veritaserum? I'm willing to take it."

"Of course I don't, that stuff is expensive and extremely complicate to brew. The DMLE just have some small stock for the most difficult cases."

"That explains so much…" muttered Harry, "I do have some, if you want me to take it I will." He told him where he could find the small bottle and waited while the old auror verified that the liquid was in fact Veritaserum. Then he opened his mouth and take a few drops of the drink. His eyes glassed over and lost focus.

Moody asked who he was. "Harry James Potter, son of Lily and James Potter." The auror then asked how that was possible and Harry explained the time traveling. He told him everything, about the horrible aftermath of the war, about his friends and family, about the ritual, about his mission. He eventually explained he was wearing glamours so Moody took his watch and saw his real face. Harry talked until the effect of the serum was gone and then he sagged into the chair, exhausted. He felt the ropes disappearing and a glass of water being shoved in front of him. He drank it eagerly and then looked at Moody. He had a strange expression on his face.

"Do you believe me?" managed to ask Harry.

"Yes, of course I do, you drank truth serum. Even if you hadn't, your story has too many details to be a lie." He was still looking at him with that weird grimace. It was alarming him a little. "So, Black is really innocent and Pettigrew is the traitor. Dumbledore and Crouch threw him in jail without a trial, and Albus also kidnapped baby you and left him with abusive relatives due to a misguided notion on blood wards. Voldemort is still alive because he made a number of horcruxes that have to be destroyed before killing him. There was a prophecy that apparently pointed at you or Neville Longbottom as the one to kill the monster and Albus wants to force it to happen," summarize Moody "Did I miss anything?"

"Yes, that there are many free death eaters that might get away with the imperius curse defense, so we need to find a way to stop that," stated Harry, "and also, Azkaban is escapable," he added with a smug grin.

"Ah, I knew I had forgotten to ask you something… You didn't tell me how you two escaped," said the auror, curious.

"We are both animagi. In our animal forms, we aren't affected by dementors too severely and they can't really sense us, so we managed to get passed them and out of the fortress. Then, we swam all the way to the mainland," explained Harry.

"Impressively simple," muttered the auror. "We should add anti animagi wards."

"You really should. Especially if you are taking Pettigrew there."

"Pettigrew? You know where he is?" asked Moody anxiously.

"Yes, how do you fell about aiding a criminal to catch the person responsible for his parents' murder?"

"I'm all for it, as long as you let me arrest him after you're done," agreed Moody.

"Okay then, we should get going."

* * *

It was extremely easy. It was unnerving to Harry, who was used to his plans going awry every time. On the other hand, it wasn't technically his plan, it was schemed by Neville, Luna and Hermione as well, so that might explain it…

Moody and Harry got into the Burrow disillusioned while the family was having dinner and found Percy's bedroom. There, an old cage with a small rat was placed over the bedside table. They stunned the rat, charmed the cage locked and left with the traitor. Harry made sure to leave a note apologizing for taking his pet, and promising that a replacement would be send for him soon.

Harry only had a small breakdown when he came face to face with baby Ginny. They were getting out of the house, and Ginny was in the bottom of the stairs, apparently having crawled all the way from the kitchen. Harry felt his heart stop when he gazed at the little version of his girlfriend, but Moody nudged him hard and he started to move again. He was soon out of the house, breathing hard. Moody gave him a pitying glance and dissaparated. Harry stared at the Burrow for a while and then he dissaparated as well.

They arrived at Longbottom Manor and found that Alice, Frank and Neville were there. Moody decided to stay for a while, leaving Pettigrew locked inside the small cage. They had dinner together and discussed small topics. They laughed and had fun, Harry enjoying himself and making faces at little Neville, who kept giggling with everything he did.

After dinner, Harry asked to have a talk with them so they sat down on their usual places in the living room. Harry took out a folder and made three copies of it. He handed one to each of the adults.

"What is it Harry?" asked Alice, intrigued.

"It's a list of every death eater I'm aware of, with all their information. Some of the stuff they did, their known associates, their original fates…" explained Harry "Of course, most of the crimes I know about didn't happened yet and some of those people may not be death eaters now but I included them all just in case. It's up to you how to proceed. Just make sure that they don't get out on the imperius defense again…"

Moody snorted. "I don't think that's how they really got out the first time. They probably bribed half the Wizengamot. They are greedy bastards, not gullible bastards."

"You're probably right," admitted Harry, "either way, that must be stopped. Some ex-death eaters became really influential people in the Ministry and because of them, bigoted laws were pushed and the wizarding world got stuck. We need progress, desperately."

"This information will definitely help. There are some names that I didn't even suspect…" said Frank "Rookwood? Is this for real? He is an unspeakable!"

Moody quickly found that name in his own folder and read everything. "This seems legit. He even went to Azkaban the first time."

"I can assure you, he is a death eater. I fought against him more than once. He killed Fred Weasley," stated Harry.

Alice stifled a gasp. Frank and Moody looked at him, disturbed. "One of Molly's twins?" asked Alice, softly. Harry nodded. He didn't enjoy revealing this part of the future to them, but they needed to understand why it was so important to catch all the death eaters. Many of them were extremely dangerous, just as much as Voldemort.

"Don't worry Harry, we won't let that happen again," promised Frank, a determined look on his eyes.


	7. The boy-who-lived

After a good night sleep in his now familiar bed at Longbottom Manor, Harry woke up slowly, feeling drained. He was now certain it was because of the ritual. He cursed to himself. They hadn't counted on this when they made their plans. Luckily, all the physical steps were done. Now he just needed to sit down and have a chat with everyone about horcruxes. What a fun topic for a family reunion… Harry snorted to himself. What would he know? He never had one of those.

He made a mental list of everything they needed to be aware of before he would disappear. Of course, he had left all the information in Remus' vault, but he intended to at least explain a little and allow them to ask questions. They were not easy topics after all.

He wasn't sure if he would have enough time to talk about everything. He hoped he would. Harry got dressed and walked downstairs to have breakfast. He greeted Alice, Frank and Neville who were already eating and sat down with them. It was all painfully domestic and it made Harry beam at them. There was a comfortable silence, broke only by Neville's commentaries and giggles. He really was a happy kid.

Afterwards, they all got ready to leave. They apparated into a muggle neighborhood, in front of the house Harry had bought. The time traveler was a little nervous, but he approached the door and knocked. He could hear noises of people inside. Suddenly, the door was opened and a voice shouted "Harry, you're here!" while he was embraced tightly. He realized it was Sirius and relaxed.

"Sirius, I just saw you yesterday!" he laughed.

"Yes, well, I missed you. Little Harry is fun, but he is not much of a talker yet," complained Sirius. He was looking much healthier than the last time he had seen him. His hair was trimmed and he had shaved. He smelled clean. But, most of all, he had such a cheerful demeanor that Harry couldn't even imagine that his godfather had been in Azkaban two days ago.

He led them inside and Harry could see that they had already started to personalize the house. There was some furniture in the living room, not new but not too old either. The walls had been painted blue and it all gave a sense of home it didn't have before. There were some toys scattered on the floor where Teddy and little Harry were playing. Or rather, Teddy was playing while Harry watched. Alice set Neville down and he immediately ran towards them.

Harry looked at his godson, hesitating. He wanted to be with him today, but he had much to do. Besides, he was leaving him, maybe it was better for Teddy to already move on from him? He had his father, his uncle, friends… The choice was taken from him the moment Teddy set his eyes on his face. "Harry!" he shouted, while running towards him. He clung at his legs and didn't let go.

Harry smiled and picked him up. "Hi Teddy," he said softly. He looked up with the kid in his arms and saw everyone watching him with knowing expressions. They had probably read the letter to Remus, so it was one less thing to explain. "Where is Remus?" he asked.

"Here," a voice he knew too well sounded behind him. Harry turned around. Remus was leaning on the doorframe, watching the scene in front of him with a wide grin on his face. "Hello Harry." He had also changed much in the short time since he had seen him. The melancholy that had surrounded him before had diminished greatly, making the werewolf look like a different person. He looked so… young.

Harry set Teddy on the ground and walked towards Remus, enveloping him in a huge hug. Remus seemed surprised for a second but then he embraced him back. Harry then broke the hug and looked at him, embarrassed. "I'm sorry, I just really missed you," he mumbled.

Before the sandy haired man could do more than smile at him Sirius talked beside them. "I'm kind of jealous, why didn't you hug me like that when we first met? Is Remus your favorite?" he pouted. Remus and Harry laughed.

"Well, you were in Azkaban and I was trying to get you out so it certainly wasn't the time to hug you," he retorted grinning.

"You have a point," conceded the animagus. "Now, let not waste any more time, you said you are finally going to explain things!" he said excitingly.

"Let's sit down in the kitchen, I left everything I brought from the vault in there," proposed Remus.

Everyone agreed and quickly moved into the kitchen. Harry sorted through the piles of folders and picked the ones they would need, copying and distributing them. Sirius was offering them some tea when there was another knock on the door. Remus and Sirius looked worried.

"Are we waiting for someone else?" asked Remus.

"Yes, sorry I should have told you guys. Is Moody," said Frank.

"Moody as in auror Moody?" asked Sirius, uncertain.

"Yes, he knows about you, he is going to help us, he is on our side," calmed him Alice, while Remus went to open the front door.

Soon they were all sitting around the kitchen table, waiting for Harry to begin talking. Sirius kept glancing at Moody worryingly, who seemed to enjoy the effect he was having on the animagus.

"First of all, thank you for being here," started Harry nervous. "I invited each of you specifically because I trust you with my life and that's the first thing that I'm doing. I'm asking you to protect my younger self and to give him a good life, a life that was denied to me the first time around," he looked at them, solemn. He couldn't see any hesitation or fear. They were all there for him, and that was enough to give him the strength to continue.

"As you could probably guess already I was very much involved in Voldemort's defeat." He had to stop to suppress a self-deprecating laugh. That was the understatement of the century… He imagined the exasperated face Ron would have made at that, he had always hated when he downplayed his actions. Harry shook his head, getting rid of the memories.

He elaborated a little more. "Not only because of what happened last Halloween, but also in several later encounters throughout the years. For you to understand everything that happened, I will now tell you my story. Some of it I've already told you, some of it I haven't. I'm sorry if I'm repeating myself too much." Alice, sitting on his left, patted his shoulder encouragingly.

"The story started a couple of years ago, before I was born. Dumbledore was conducting and interview with an applicant for the Divinations position at Hogwarts, when she started to recite an actual prophecy. Now, I don't really believe in prophecies. There are several stored at the Department of Mysteries that never got fulfilled." He clenched his jaws, swallowing the guilt that always filled him at the thought of that place. He tried to move on quickly. "However, I also know that when people believe in them, they enact them. They are, almost every time, self-fulfilling. So, this prophecy predicted a defeater of a dark lord."

He sipped some tea thinking how to continue. "Both Voldemort and Dumbledore interpreted the prophecy almost the same way, that either Harry Potter or Neville Longbottom would be able to defeat him." He waited for questions, but they were all listening attentively. "That was the reason that both families had to go into hiding and why the Potters were attacked." They all winced at that.

Harry took a deep breath. "The night of the attack, Voldemort was attempting to kill me. My parents were only a secondary target. After he killed my father, he got into the nursery where my mother was shielding me with her body. Surprisingly, he offered to spare her, as long as she got out of the way and let him kill me. Some time ago, someone told me that he did that because Severus Snape had begged for my mother's life. Is he a good person? I can't really tell you that. I know that he was a spy for the Order and gave quite valuable information. I know that he was a bully who made some children's lives hell while he was a teacher at Hogwarts, including Neville, myself and my best friend Hermione. I know that he saved my life more than once. Does the good outweighs the bad? I'm not sure…" Harry got lost in thoughts staring at nothing.

Moody coughed loudly, startling him. "Right, I'm sorry. Severus Snape, I left you information about him, you'll have to decide what to do with it. I won't decide for you. And Sirius shouldn't either," he added at the end, his godfather looking affronted until Remus gave him a look.

"Is he loyal to Voldemort or Dumbledore?" asked Moody, right to the point.

"You want my personal opinion? Neither," answered Harry bluntly. "He is not interested in the light or the dark, he just cares about himself and a few selected people."

"Where was I… yes, my mother. When she refused to move out of the way, Voldemort killed her. By killing her, he activated some powerful magic that my parents had prepared just in case. My friends researched this, and I'm almost sure that they found exactly what my parents did that night. You can find everything in the folder labelled _Lily's sacrifice_ but I'll explain some of it first." He took another sip of his tea. "With her sacrifice, she left me a powerful protection, one that wouldn't let Voldemort or anyone who is tainted by him attack me, touch me, or even come near me. As the years went by, this protection diminished, that's why death eaters and Voldemort himself were able to attack me later on. However, right know little Harry is as safe as he can be. At least, from the dark side. We'll talk about the so-called light side later…" he said forebodingly. Everyone looked uneasy.

"To be able to maintain this protection for as long as possible and also to extend it to everyone living with him, I researched a lot about blood wards. With some help from a curse-breaker friend of mine, I designed some wards that would be able to do all this." He showed them the folder with the instructions and some other suggestions they could use. They were all impressed, Frank and Moody reading through the papers with interest. Warding was a difficult discipline.

"So, do you believe that Neville is no longer part of the prophecy? Is it definitely about Harry?" asked Frank after he had made several questions about the experimental ward.

Harry grimaced a little. He hated the damn prophecy. "It's irrelevant what I or for that matter you think about the prophecy. Voldemort and Dumbledore believe it refers to Harry so, he is the one in danger… At least, that's what happened in my timeline. You should be cautious just in case now it's different." Frank nodded, satisfied.

"I don't think I need to tell you what happened after the attack. Dumbledore used Hagrid to kidnap me, Sirius got arrested, Pettigrew escaped," Harry recounted, bored, "what I can tell you is that Moody and I captured the rat yesterday."

"WHAT!" shouted Remus and Sirius in unison, amusing Harry. He expected that reaction. "What did you do with him?" asked Remus, trying to keep himself composed.

"I can answer that," said Moody, "I took the traitor to the DMLE where he is under lock and key with anti animagus wards and two aurors watching him at all times. He is going to be questioned by me later today. I expect Black to be cleared."

Sirius whooped with delight. He stood up and hugged the old auror, who was not pleased in the slightest. Harry stifled a snort, but he was the only one, as Frank, Alice and Remus laughed loudly at the scene.

"To continue with the story…" said the time traveler, loudly. They all shut up. "Okay, to continue. In my timeline, Sirius was arrested and stayed in Azkaban for twelve years," he glanced at him, apologetically. The animagus had blanched and Remus was grabbing his shoulder tightly. "I don't really know what happened to Remus or why he didn't visit me, other than the fact that Dumbledore asked him not to, but I met him for the first time when I was thirteen," he looked at the werewolf, who stayed silent and averted his eyes. "I do know what happened to Alice and Frank. They were attacked in their home the night of December 20th, 1981 by the Lestranges and Barty Crouch Jr." Sirius and Remus gasped loudly and looked at them. They nodded.

"Yes, they came to our home but Harry had warned us so we were prepared and captured them," said Frank, answering the unspoken question.

"We didn't capture all of them," corrected Harry. "Bellatrix is dead, I killed her and managed to get arrested for it. I did that to be able to get Sirius out and, fortunately, it worked." Harry said it all dismissively, but feeling the astonished eyes from his godfather and favorite uncle.

Harry continued, ignoring them. "The first time they were all arrested, but not before their attack was successful." He didn't want to tell them the original fates of the Longbottom. Better for them to assume they have died. "The four of them got send to Azkaban and Neville was raised by his grandmother," he said sadly.

He pressed on forwards. "I was raised by the Dursleys and remained ignorant of the Wizarding World until the moment Hagrid arrived with a letter from Hogwarts. I didn't know anything, but everyone knew me. The press had named me the-boy-who-lived and there were books written about my supposed defeat of the dark lord. Kids had grown up listening to stories about Harry Potter, the hero, the champion of the light. When I got to Hogwarts, that was what everyone expected me to be. Years later, when Voldemort returned, wizards and witches decided that their best hope was a sixteen-year-old kid with a cursed scar and a horrible past." His bitterness slipped through the whole speech. It was obvious to them all how much he hated the fame, the expectations, the pressure from people who should have known better.

They were all getting depressed by that point. Alice got up to hug his son, who was still playing in the other room. Harry repressed the urge to hug Teddy as well. Before the war, that wouldn't have been a problem at all. He had never been that touchy-feely. But ever since the last battle, ever since he started raising Teddy and ever since he lost Ginny and Ron… He just needed to feel closer to people.

He was about to begin speaking again when there was a loud knock. They all looked at each other. They were certainly not expecting anyone else…


	8. A surprise guest

Remus got up and approached the door cautiously, Moody and Frank behind him with their wands drawn. Harry disillusioned Sirius and himself and also stood up. Alice went to the corner where the kids were playing.

They all heard Remus asking who it was through the door and the clear answer "Tonks, your future wife and the mother of your child!" of an amused voice. They all stayed in their places, frozen. "Are you going to let me in or not Remus?" Harry could imagine perfectly the pouting face Tonks was making on the other side of the door. He smiled, grabbed Sirius arm and dragged him to the door. He lifted the disillusion charm from them both and then opened the door.

Tonks was much younger than the last time he had seen her, but not ten years old, as she was supposed to be in this time. Harry was extremely confused but also pleased by this turn of events. All the same, he needed some explanations.

"Wotcher Harry!" she said, making his smile widened. How much he had missed her greeting…

"Tonks, you are supposed to be ten!" he exclaimed, "how is this possible?"

"Well Harry, you tell me, you are supposed to be one…" she answered, beaming at him.

Sirius intervened then. "Another time-traveler? Can you prove you are my little cousin?"

Tonks concentrated and changed her features to match Sirius' face. The animagus laughed and hugged her. "Welcome Dora!"

"Thank you Sirius," grinned the pink haired witch. "Now, if you guys invite me to come inside I can explain everything…"

"Yes of course, come in," said Remus, finally getting over his shock. He kept staring at Tonks though, and Harry had to suppress a knowing smirk. Sirius caught his eyes and wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, making it even harder.

They all got seated again, Sirius introducing his cousin to everyone there, Remus fetching her a cup of tea, Harry duplicating the documents they were using so that Tonks had her own set. He had a feeling she was there to help with the mission.

Finally, Tonks cleared her throat to get everyone's attention. Not that she needed to do that. "I guess I should explain this… I came from the year 1989. I've just graduated from Hogwarts and started auror training." Everyone congratulated her and Sirius made a hilarious proud face.

"So, are you 18 right now?" Remus asked trying to be subtle.

"Yes, I am," she said smirking, seeing right through him. She continued her explanation. "The training was going pretty well, I was enjoying myself and everything, and last month I was selected to participate in a mission. I was surprised because I'm just a trainee, but I was also excited. Some other trainees and a few junior aurors were also chosen. Our bosses were all very close-lipped about the whole thing, they made us swear oaths not to reveal anything we learned during the briefing" she stopped to breathe a little and glanced at her audience. They were all listening closely. She smiled and kept going "so, I was in the briefing, wondering what the hell was going on, when a couple of unspeakables walked in. That was when I realized how serious the whole thing was. Eventually, they began explaining everything and we were all astonished when they said they were looking for dedicated people who would want to help out during those difficult times after Voldemort's defeat by Lily Potter. We had all heard what happened, it was chaotic, many people resigned as they had only joined to lend a hand during the war and there were a lot of free death eaters and death eaters wanabees taking advantage of the situation."

"Wait a minute," interrupted Harry, "you said Lily Potter defeated Voldemort, is that general knowledge in your time? Do they stop believing in miracle babies?"

"I can't tell you if they believe in miracle babies or not," sniggered Tonks, "but yes, everybody knows that Lily defeated Voldemort."

"Yes!" celebrated Harry. "That means we managed to change it!" Everyone was looking at him, amused. He blushed a little. "Please, continue," he said shyly.

"As I was saying, they asked for volunteers to go back in time to help out. The only problem was it was a one-way ticket. You couldn't just come for a year and then return to your time. If you chose to go back in time, you would be stuck living there for good," explained the metamorphmagus. "That was when most of the people turned down the offer. The rest of us needed some time to think about it so they gave us two weeks."

Everyone was absorbed by the story, but Harry was trying to figure out the mechanics. Did she use a time-turner? That would mean that the aurors and unspeakables already knew who would accept the offer because it had already happened… But, as far as he knew they couldn't go back more than a couple of days. He decided to ask.

"How did you time travel? Did you use a time-turner?"

"Yes, I did actually."

"But that means you are stuck in a loop. Doesn't it bother you?" frowned Harry.

"I know, and no, I don't think it'll bother me at all. I don't know that much about the past, considering I was a kid. Also, the future I come from, it's pretty good so I wouldn't want to risk changing it," she said, making him smile again. So, he managed to create a good timeline. All his work, his friends' sacrifice, it was worth it. He felt lighter and happier than ever.

"Excuse me, do you mind explaining this time stuff to all of us not experts?" grumbled Sirius.

Tonks snickered at him while Harry began explaining. "Although time travelling is illegal there are many ways to accomplish it. Each way will have different results. For example, the ritual I used to return to this year creates a new timeline. That means that as soon as I arrived at this time, everything started to change. Not just by my obvious actions like saving Sirius from Azkaban, just by the fact that I'm here. I wasn't here in my original timeline, so events turned out differently. Are you following me?" he asked and everyone nodded.

"What happens to the original timeline?" Remus asked. He already knew a bit because of what Harry told him on the letter, but he wanted him to tell him more.

"It disappears," he said, quietly, "the ritual takes the power from the previous timeline and uses it to create a new one."

They were all stunned. "So, the people from that timeline, they don't exist anymore?" confirmed Remus. Harry winced.

"They don't exist in that timeline, no. If they were born after December 20th, 1981, they may or may not be born again," he clarified. "That's the reason this is illegal; you are actually gambling with people's lives. I don't expect all of you to agree with my decision to do this. It was not an easy one and I didn't make it alone... However, I can tell you without a doubt that I don't regret it. I've never regret it, but now I'm so relieved because Tonks here is the proof that everything turns out for the best. She lived in a great future!" Tonks nodded. She was the only one not disturbed by Harry's explanation.

They were a bit mollified by the last statement, so Harry continued. "My objective was always to change the timeline because the original one was a disaster after the second wizard war. I was aiming to save people and for my friends and I to have better lives with our families." He was pleading for them to understand.

"Who were your friends, the ones who helped with this plan?" asked Alice, already suspecting his son to be one of them, as he had written them a letter.

"Neville, of course, Hermione Granger, mugggleborn, and Luna Lovegood. I'm not sure if you know his father Xenophilus, he is totally crazy but a good guy," he listed.

"Why didn't they come with you?" questioned Alice.

"We could only send one person back - besides Teddy, obviously. We hesitated between Neville and myself, he wanted to come as well but we eventually decided that I had better chances to succeed."

"And you are what, seventeen?" asked Frank.

"Nineteen, actually," he corrected.

"I understand why you did this Harry. I'm not sure if I would have made the same decision, but I understand it. You are too young to have gone through that much pain," said Alice, compassionately.

Sirius have been quiet for a long time. "Why didn't you come back sooner?" he asked abruptly in a small voice. Nobody needed to ask what he was referring to. Harry closed his eyes, in pain. He had expected that question.

"I couldn't save them Sirius. There was no way," he said quietly. "I would have given everything."

"But why?" he demanded desperately. "If you are able to change everything else, why not that night as well?"

"That night is a fixed point in time," he explained, "the results were so wide, so strong, that it can't be changed. I could have come back just after it happened, I could have prevented your arrest, but I could have never prevented my parents' deaths." Harry was crying silently and he could see Alice in the same situation. Frank was staring at the table and Remus was clenching his jaw. Sirius, on the other hand, was not totally convinced yet.

"But, maybe there is another way, you said that every time travel method has different rules. Maybe there is one that would let us change it," he insisted.

Harry sighed. "It's just not possible Sirius. Even if you travelled further than that day, it would still happen. Not exactly the same, you may be able to change some things but they would still die."

Sirius was crying now. Loud sobs, whole body shaking. Harry couldn't bear to look at him like that. It was to be expected, the poor man hadn't been able to properly grieve for the loss of his friends while trapped in Azkaban. Harry stood up and went into the back garden to get some air. He sat on the grass, tears falling silently down his face. He suddenly felt someone standing next to him. He looked up and found Teddy, worriedly staring at him. He opened his arms and Teddy hugged him tightly, placing his face on the crook of his neck. Harry felt better straightaway, remembering the reason why he was there. He was there to save people, he may not be able to save everyone, but he was making a better future that the one he experienced. He was making a better future for himself, for his friends and for Teddy. No more child soldiers. No more mass murderers.

He breathed deeply and got up, taking Teddy inside. Harry was grateful for his company but he didn't want him to listen to the conversation they were having in the kitchen. He convinced the kid to joined Neville and Harry again.

He found everyone a little better. Sirius was still crying, hugging Remus like he was going to disappear, but he was not shaking anymore. The rest of them had composed themselves and were trying to give both men their space.

Harry approached them both and put his hand on Sirius shoulder. He looked up and Harry embraced him, whispering to him "I'm so sorry Sirius, I promise I tried everything to save them, I looked into every book that I found about time magic, I even read the books from the Black family library." That seemed to shock Sirius enough.

"Harry!" he said trying to be stern. It wasn't working, as he was disheveled and red from crying. "You shouldn't have read those books! They are extremely dangerous! That's dark magic!"

Harry snorted. "How do you think I managed to do this?" he asked incredulous. "I found this ritual in one of those books."

The good thing was that he had distracted Sirius enough to stop him for crying. The bad thing, he was preparing to give him a lecture about dark magic, one that he was in no mood to listen.

"Please Padfoot, you can lecture him later," interrupted Remus. "I really want them to finish telling us their stories."

"Thank you Remus," said Harry. He beckoned them all to the table once more. Tonks and Moody had been chatting in a corner but they quickly faced him and nodded at him to continue.

"Before you explain the method Tonks used, may I ask you something Harry?" asked Remus.

"Go ahead."

"If you could have come back at any point after your parents' attack, why did you choose now?" he inquired, puzzled.

"The main reason, Bellatrix," the time traveler said, bluntly.

"What!" three voices shouted. Everyone appeared stunned by that statement, even Tonks who until then was apparently aware of everything he was saying.

"Yes, as I said, I came back on December 20th because I knew where Bellatrix was going to be that day and I wanted to capture her or kill her," Harry said, matter-of-factly. "You have to understand that the way this society works, a dark lord isn't an anomaly, a once in a lifetime event. There is so much corruption, bigotry and insane evil people that if we don't make a change soon, we could be looking at the next Voldemort sooner rather than later."

"I agree with that Harry, but Bellatrix? Are you saying she could have been the next Voldemort?" asked Sirius, unconvinced.

"Without a doubt," answered Harry, "she had the right amount of insanity and genius to be able to gather followers around her, she was completely evil and had friends in high and low places. I believe she could have been more dangerous than Voldemort ever was." He hesitated to add the next part. "Also, it was a personal mission to get rid of her instead of letting you guys deal with the problem."

"Why? Did you know her?" inquired Remus.

"Regrettably, yes, I had various encounters with her," he said vaguely. He realized that everyone was waiting for him to elaborate and closed his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose and releasing a slow breath. "The first time I heard of her, I was fourteen and I found out that she had tortured Alice and Frank to insanity," he heard them gasped. "I actually met them once, they were in St Mungo's long term ward and Neville used to visit them with his grandmother. It was heart breaking, they didn't recognize him at all…" he trailed off. They were all shaken and he hadn't even told him about his own encounters with the witch yet.

"When I was fifteen, she along with several others escaped Azkaban. I'm not going into details about every despicable thing she did since the moment she escaped, suffice it to say that she was back in Voldemort's service and she killed several people I care about. Among them, Sirius and Tonks," he recounted, with a hard look in his eyes. "As if that wasn't enough for me to hate her, when I was seventeen my friends and I were captured and taken to Malfoy Manor. Bellatrix tortured Hermione so badly that she never completely recovered. She got a nasty cursed scar on her arm with the word mudblood. I still have nightmares of her screaming in so much pain…" his voice shook. "We managed to escape, all of us alive, with the help of a house elf," he smiled in remembrance of his friend, "braver than most people I know, but he lost his life helping us, becoming another victim of the evil witch. The next time I saw Bellatrix was in the Final Battle, where she killed Tonks and many others and eventually lost her own life."

Tonks' hair was white from shock and the rest of them were not any better. Harry didn't like talking about it, but he knew it was imperative to let them know all the facts.

"She is truly the person I hate the most," he declared. "Not Voldemort, she is first on the list."

"And where is Voldemort on that list?" inquired Remus, morbidly curious.

"He is actually number three," answered Harry, absently rubbing his left hand.

"He is?" asked Frank incredulous. "Who is the second?"

Harry narrowed his eyes. "Dolores Umbridge."

Moody released a snort. "That toad-like lady who works at the department of Regulation and control of Magical Creatures?"

"The same one," confirmed Harry, "I could list her crimes, but I don't think we have all day."

"Come on Harry, tell us," whined Sirius.

"We should be aware so that we can keep an eye on her," remarked Alice.

"Yes, I know, that's why her name is the first on the folder labelled _corruption,_ " snapped Harry tiredly, "but I can tell you a few things. Firstly, she was responsible for the creation of many anti-werewolf laws that prevented Remus and many others to be able to get decent jobs and limited their basic rights." He sighed deeply, "she is basically against centaurs, merpeople, anyone she considers a half-breed. She was chummy with dementors though, so when I was fifteen Umbitch sent a couple of them to kiss me during the summer, just because I had told people about Voldemort's resurrection. The Ministry didn't want to believe it, so she tried to silence me." Harry ignored the bewildered faces and turned to Remus, "thank you for that by the way."

"For what Harry?" asked Remus, bemused.

"For teaching me how to produce a Patronus," he answered, "it saved my life more than once."

"You could do a Patronus at fifteen?" asked Moody skeptically.

"I learned at thirteen, actually," Harry said smugly, "Remus here is an excellent teacher." The werewolf blushed and Sirius laughed and patted his back.

"What form does it take?" probed Alice eagerly. She already knew of course, as Harry had sent it to Frank and her.

Harry rolled his eyes, took his wand out and casted "Expecto Patronum". A giant stag came out and started pacing around the kitchen. Everyone beamed at it, some of them a little emotional, especially Sirius and Remus. Eventually it disappeared and Frank turned his attention back to the point.

"I agree that the woman is evil, after all he sent two dementors to kill a fifteen-year-old, but why does she rank higher than Voldemort?"

"She did more than that. She became the defense professor at Hogwarts and she used to torture students during detentions. She made us write lines using a blood quill," he said matter of factly.

"There is no way the professors allowed that!" roared Alice appalled.

"They had no control over it," said Harry calmly, rubbing his scars. Sirius caught the movement and yanked his hand.

"I must not tell lies," he read aloud. "How many times did you write this? It shouldn't have left a permanent scar," he said, horrified.

"I honestly have no idea," answered Harry softly.

Of all the things Harry had told them, this was one of the most difficult to accept. Such senseless cruelty against children. Remus' face was hidden behind his hands and he kept muttering to himself.

"It's not possible… Dumbledore… Hogwarts… The professors… Sanctioned torture…"

Sirius was still staring at the markings on the back of Harry's hand. The time traveler gently took his hand back and asked them to calm down.

"That's not even the worst thing she did," he said to everyone dismay, "sometime later, the Ministry fell to Voldemort. He didn't exactly crown himself the master of Britain, but he planted an imperiused minister and killed everyone who resisted him. Umbridge didn't resist him at all, she quickly climbed ranks and was in charge of sentencing muggleborns to Azkaban for the crime of stealing magic."

"Okay, we get why she is the second on the list," accepted Frank. "What happened to her after the war?"

Harry smiled evilly. "Well, I tried to get her convicted but like many ministry workers, she claimed she didn't have a choice on what she had to do, so she got off. Then, I may or may not have hunted her down and fed her to the acromantula colony from the Forbidden Forest."

Moody chortled. "I like your style kid," then he added "what I really want to know is who offed Bellatrix on that Final Battle."

Harry's wicked grin widened. "At one point during the battle Bellatrix was dueling with Luna, Hermione and Ginny Weasley. She almost killed Ginny and her mother got enraged…" Harry shook his head in mock disappointment, "you shouldn't underestimate Molly Weasley guys, not when you threaten her kids. She killed Bellatrix," he told them, proudly.

There was a surprised chuckle from Sirius. "Are you kidding me? Molly Weasley? She isn't in the Order because she doesn't want to fight!"

"Yes Sirius, but that doesn't mean she doesn't know how…" said Remus, amused.

"Touché," said Frank, who was also smiling.

"You shouldn't underestimate any mother," clarified Alice. "Now, I think we went completely off-topic, may we find out about the time-turner thing? I really want to know how it works."

"I can tell you that," intervened Tonks, "the time-turner is completely different from the ritual Harry used. What it does is create a loop in time, from the year I arrived till the year I came from."

"A loop?" asked Remus confused, "that doesn't mean we'll be repeating those years forever, does it?"

"No, what it means is that everything is already predetermined. Or at least, for me it is," she said brightly. Everyone had befuddled expressions so she groaned "I'm not explaining myself at all am I?" Harry laughed and Remus looked fondly at Tonks.

"Maybe I can clarify a few points," said Harry, "what Tonks is trying to say is that she already lived this timeline. She is not creating a new one like I am, she is in the same stream as she was before travelling back, repeating it but from a different perspective." Remus and Frank got it, the rest were still struggling so he tried once more. "Let's assume Tonks here remembers getting into a nasty accident two days from now, when she was 10 years old. Now, she could try to prevent it, she could try to warn herself, she could do anything but the end result will always be the same, she will always get into the same accident. Tonks is unable to change anything in this timeline. Everything she does has already happened the first time, only she didn't witness it or maybe she didn't understand it. Tonks was always here the first time around." Tonks was nodding along with the explanation. Everybody seemed to understand it.

"What is the point of coming back then?" asked Sirius.

"My aim is not to change the past, is to live in it," the metamorphmagus answered simply, staring intently at Remus. "There is another big difference between using a time-turner and Harry's ritual. The time-turner allows two versions of the same person to coexist at the same time. Harry's ritual doesn't."

"That's not true, there are two versions of Harry here right now," frowned Alice.

"Yes, there are, but the timeline is fighting him off. He doesn't belong here, only one version is allowed to stay. He could theoretically kill his younger self and stay here, but he won't do that…"

"Of course not," replied Harry offended. He started talking before they began with the pity stares. "I accepted that the moment I decided to do this, as well as all my friends, who also disappeared when the timeline got erased."

"But Teddy, what will happen to him?" asked Remus, worried.

"He won't disappear," reassured him Harry. "He doesn't have a counterpart so the timeline isn't fighting him off like me. And he won't ever have a counterpart, because even if you two have another child together, the child won't be Teddy." Remus and Tonks were bright red while Sirius smirked at them.

Moody coughed loudly. "Now that all this time stuff has been properly explained, shouldn't we move on and talk about how to kill the dark bastard? I'm assuming that's where your story was heading…" he said questioning Harry.

"Yes, it was…"


	9. Tom Riddle's story

It had only been two hours since Harry had arrived at the house, but so much had been said, so much had been revealed, that Remus was feeling as if they had been there for days. He was extremely grateful for what Harry had done for him, even if the thought of erasing individuals from existence made him quite nauseous. However, he understood the decision. He had, after all, participated in a war as well and lost numerous people.

He couldn't get his head around the fact that an adult Tonks had showed up. Why was she there? She said that the Auror Department needed help, but was that her real reason to volunteer? She was obviously an amazing witch and he could empathize with his future self who had fallen for her… But he couldn't think about that, he barely knew her and there were important things to concentrate on.

Finally, Harry was going to disclose Voldemort's story to them. He explained that he wasn't going to be able to help destroy him, as he was being erased from the timeline that same day. This news made an already emotional Sirius even more distraught, so Remus put a reassuring hand over his shoulder. Harry then asked them if they were willing to work towards Voldemort's defeat. It didn't take long for all the adults in the house to agree, most of them had been fighting the monster for a long time. Harry beamed at them, obviously proud of their reaction and added that to be able to accomplish the task at hand, they shouldn't share the information with anyone. Even Dumbledore.

Remus was curious about all the animosity towards the Headmaster. Harry had already told them a lot of facts that made the werewolf angry at the old man, but Remus still held a certain amount of respect for the wizard. After all, he was the only one who Voldemort feared. Nevertheless, Dumbledore had manipulated them and made decisions that hurt them all. It didn't matter if they were mistakes or part of a bigger agenda, the end result was that Remus couldn't trust him anymore. All the same, he would appreciate to learn what else had he done to Harry for him to be against having any contact whatsoever with the headmaster.

They all agreed to keep the information between them. Harry had some suggestions about people who were trustworthy and capable of helping them, but it would be easier if they could solve it without involving anyone else. The time traveler directed them all to the folders labelled _Tom Marvolo Riddle_ and began explaining Voldemort's story.

"Around fifty or sixty years ago, there was an old pureblood family living in a shack at Little Hangleton. They were the Gaunts, descendants of Slytherin himself and very proud of that fact. They were extremely poor, extremely bigoted and extremely inbred. The father, Marvolo, valued his son as the heir to the family name and some of his heirlooms. Nothing else matter to him. His daughter, Merope, was an almost squib girl who was abused by both his father and his brother Morfin. She had fallen in love with a boy who lived nearby, a rich muggle named Tom Riddle. His brother Morfin realized this and attacked him. A ministry official went to the Gaunt house and ended up in a fight with both father and son. They were taken to Azkaban and Merope was free for the first time in her life. We don't actually know what happen afterwards…"

Everyone was engrossed by the story, even though they hadn't made the connection to Voldemort yet. "What I do know for certain is that Merope ended up getting pregnant with Tom Riddle's child. How did that happen? We can only guess. Dumbledore assumed that the girl had given Tom some love potions and convinced him to run away with her. After she got pregnant, she stopped giving him the potions so he left her. Merope gave birth in a muggle orphanage and died. The kid, named Tom Marvolo Riddle, grew up in there." Harry stopped and drank some water. "What does this story has to do with Voldemort? Well, the kid grew up, went to Hogwarts and eventually changed his name because he didn't enjoy having a muggle one… He decided to be called Lord Voldemort."

They were all staring with various levels of shock. Moody was the one to speak. "Does Dumbledore know this?" he asked suspiciously.

"Of course he does, he was the one who told me most of it. He was his teacher; he was the one who introduced eleven-year-old Tom to the wizarding world."

"Why did he keep this a secret?" wondered Frank. "He should have told people that Voldemort is a half-blood. He would have lost some of his pureblood supporters."

"I don't know why he didn't tell anyone. Moreover, he isn't the only one aware of his identity. Ollivander knows of course, like he knows everyone he ever sold a wand to. Slughorn knows, he was his teacher as well. I don't know of anybody else, but I'm sure there are more people," listed Harry.

"Ollivander and Slughorn are cowards, that's why they kept quiet," grumbled Moody, "but Albus' motivations… Those are more difficult to guess."

Remus thought deeply about it. Information is power, by keeping it to yourself, you are holding onto power. But surely, Dumbledore would benefit more by telling the truth to people and getting more volunteers to join his Order? Remus wasn't sure, he didn't think he could understand the headmaster's mind. He was snapped out of his musing when Moddy urged Harry to go on.

"I told you about Tom's upbringing. I'm sure it wasn't easy, I can relate to him, growing out without a family… Maybe that's the reason he is so evil or maybe he was born that way. I grew up without a family as well and turned up decent." Remus felt like he was punched in the gut. Why hadn't he been there for Harry? Up until two days ago, he had been meaning to pester Dumbledore about his location until he gave it up. Did the headmaster keep the boy hidden from him until he went to Hogwarts? Or did future Remus give up? He vowed then and there that he would never give up on helping Harry, nobody would stop him, even if they had to stay in hiding forever.

"At some point after he found out he was a wizard, Tom became obsessed with immortality. He investigated about every method he could come across and eventually he discovered how to make horcruxes." Remus didn't know what those were, but the look on Harry's, Sirius' and Moody's faces told him he would rather not hear about it. "For those of you lucky enough not to know what those are, they are objects created by the darkest of rituals, used to protect a fragment of a soul. To be able to split the soul and hid it in the object, a murder has to be committed." With that, Remus face mirrored the horrified and disgusted expression he had seen in the others. "While the horcrux is safe, you can't die, even if your body is destroyed, as your spirit remains tethered to the object."

"So Voldemort is still alive because he created a horcrux," stated Frank, disturbed, "no wonder he didn't look human anymore."

"He created more than one, didn't he?" asked Moody, always fatalistic.

"Unfortunately, he did. At this point in time he has already created 5 and possibly an accidental one. His aim was to make six, so that his soul would be in seven pieces, a powerful magic number."

"Five horcruxes!" muttered Moody under his breath.

"An accidental one?" asked Remus. "How could he create one by accident? Didn't he need to murder someone and do a ritual?"

"I'm not completely sure about it, Dumbledore believed he had done it but it was only an educated guess, so you'll need to do some research. I'll tell you more later, for now I rather tell you what I actually know." Everyone nodded "Let's start with the methods to destroy horcruxes. If anybody is aware of another, feel free to add it." He especially directed that to Moody and Sirius.

"To destroy a horcrux, the object should be damaged beyond repair. The only methods I know of are fiendfyre and basilisk venom." Remus made a small noise of protest. There was no way any of them could control fiendfyre! And basilisk venom was extremely rare… "I know, I know, not many people can master fiendfyre and finding basilisk venom is not an easy feat. However, I do know where you can find a basilisk… You'll need to be willing to try and kill him, that's all," he said in a nonchalant tone of voice, like he was proposing a regular get together. To kill a basilisk! Remus was starting to believe future Harry was insane.

"Come on guys, it won't be that hard. Just take a couple of roosters with you and make sure they crow," said the time traveler, impatient. "Not to brag or anything, but in my time I actually killed it with a sword when I was just twelve, so I'm pretty sure you'll be able to manage it." Remus' jaw dropped, and he could see the others in similar states. Except Moody, who apparently didn't believe a word of it.

"Twelve? Why were you facing a basilisk at twelve?" asked Sirius, his voice weak.

"It's a really long story, but suffice it to say that the basilisk was at Hogwarts, attacking students. Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets is real and during my second year the monster was released," the dark haired man explained. "You can find everything on the folder labelled _the chamber of secrets._ " Alice was grumbling under her breath about finding another school for Neville and the old auror was skimming the information he had been pointed at.

"Is it a danger to the students? Should we let people know about it?" asked Frank, ever so practical.

"Not right now, the Chamber is sealed and the monster is hibernating. So don't worry about it unless you decide to get inside."

"Is this right Potter? We need a parselmouth to enter it?" asked Moody, still reading.

Harry sighed deeply. "Yes, it needs a password spoken in parseltongue," then he smiled. "However I provided you with a device that has a recording of the word _open_ and the phrase that summons the snake in parseltongue, that will be enough." The werewolf was impressed; they really had thought about everything to help them.

"Okay then, we are going to slay a basilisk," declared Moody. Nobody contradicted him, but the only enthusiastic person was Tonks. Oh god, the girl was insane as well.

"Excellent, now that the issue is settled, we can start talking about finding the horcruxes." Harry rubbed his hands against each other, like he was a guy plotting in a muggle movie. Sirius chuckled next to him, and Remus quirked his lips upwards at the thought that, even after everything that happened to them, they could still know what each other was thinking. "Riddle is an arrogant bastard, so most of this items will be historical relics. He wanted to have at least one object belonging to each of the founders or things that represent his connection to them."

Remus started to consider everything he had read about the founders. He was sure there was a sword from Gryffindor and a diadem belonging to Ravenclaw, but he didn't recall any more items. "He would also want this objects to be hidden in meaningful places, that relate to his own history." Harry finished talking and watched them thoughtfully.

"So, do you know where they all are?" dared to ask Frank after a few seconds of silence.

"Some of them I'm sure of, some of them I suspect," answered Harry vaguely. "However, with everything I've just told you, you guys should be able to make some guesses."

Moody made a discontent noise, but Remus understood what Harry was doing. He was trying to get them to understand the mind of Tom Riddle, so that they would be able to fight him on their own, without Harry there to help. He considered it carefully.

"Hogwarts?" Remus asked, "it was the place where he learned magic, I'm sure it was meaningful to him. But was he able to hide something so dark there?"

Harry smiled widely at him and Remus couldn't help himself and responded in kind.

"Yes, one of the horcruxes I'm sure of is the lost diadem of Ravenclaw and it's hidden at Hogwarts, in a secret room known as the Room of Requirement or the Come and Go Room." Remus and Sirius looked at each other with questioning glances. No, that wasn't a room they know of. During their school days, they used to love exploring the castle. They had even mapped every secret passage and room they had found, but that wasn't one of them. Neither was the Chamber of Secrets, so Harry had already come across two places they hadn't.

When he realized that no one knew what he was talking about, he enlightened them. "It's a room that provides you with everything you need. For instance, if you are in desperate need of a toilet, that's what you'll find. If you need a training room, that will appear and so on." Sirius eyes sparkled with all the possibilities a room like that could offer. Remus had to remind himself that he wasn't in school anymore not to end up the same way. "So, you'll just have to ask for the room where things are hidden and you'll find the diadem. I warn you now, it's a gigantic room full of lost items so it will take some time." He smiled mischievously. "Maybe you can find more fun things in there."

He sobered up quickly and then prompted them all to think of another place. Remus could see the wheels turning in everyone's heads.

"The orphanage where he grew up?" asked Alice, uncertain.

"No, I don't think there is much chance he would hide something there," retorted Sirius. "If he didn't have a happy childhood, he wouldn't want reminders of it. He wouldn't want to return there." Harry nodded with a blank expression. Probably he and his godfather could relate on that issue. "I'm thinking more among the lines of wizarding places. Perhaps in Gringotts? If he was muggle raised he probably didn't have an account at first, but later when he left Hogwarts he may had opened one?"

"That's one of the horcruxes I'm a bit unsure of. In my time, it was hidden in Bellatrix's vault." Sirius made a disgusted face. "As Sirius correctly assumed, Riddle didn't have an account and he saw the bank as symbol of belonging to the magic world, one he lacked. I don't know if he opened one eventually, but in my time he trusted Hufflepuff's cup to Bellatrix and she hid it in her vault."

"How did you get it?" asked Alice, "the goblins aren't easy to convince, even against Voldemort. They remained neutral during the war."

Harry made a sheepish face. "Emm… We actually… My friends and I…" he gulped. "My friends and I broke into Gringotts and stole it, then we escaped riding one of the dragons they keep in there," he muttered as fast as he could. Everyone was stunned. Then a loud laugh startled them. Moody was grabbing his stomach, shaking from mirth. Remus had never seen the old auror lose control like that.

"I can't believe you did that," said Tonks, intimidated. "How old were you?"

"Seventeen," answered Harry, "and we really didn't have a choice, there was a war going on, the goblins were not going to help and I was already a wanted man… We did what we had to do."

"We understand Harry," soothed him Sirius, "and we are damn impressed." Harry grinned at him.

"Well, as impressive as you may find it, I don't think you'll need to break into Gringotts this time. I'm sure there will be a way for Sirius to access his deceased cousin's vault when he becomes the head of the Black family," wondered Harry aloud.

Sirius cringed, "I won't become the Head though; I was disowned."

"Not legally," said Harry. "Your grandfather never disowned you, so when he dies in a couple of years, you'll inherite everything."

Sirius was overwhelmed by this bit of news, but he stayed silent. Remus knew that his friend didn't want to be the head of the Black family, but if that was what was needed to destroy Riddle, he would do it.

"So, if he trusted one of his death eaters with a horcrux, maybe he also trusted another," speculated Alice

"Yes, I believe he left one to Abraxas Malfoy, one of his first followers, who then passed it on to his son Lucius. It's a black diary, with T. M. Riddle written in the cover." Harry shuddered a bit, and Remus could see that talking about this horcrux was affecting him more than any of the others. "It was his first, he made it when he was sixteen, with the murder of another student from Hogwarts, Myrtle Warren, with the basilisk from the Chamber of Secrets." Remus was starting to connect the dots. "As you know, the Gaunts were descendants from Slytherin, so Riddle is the heir and he can speak parseltongue and control the monster."

"How could he murder someone in school? Did nobody suspect him?" asked Frank.

"People knew someone was opening the Chamber, but they didn't know what the monster was. When Riddle, who was a prefect and well-liked by teachers, told everyone that Hagrid was keeping a pet Acromantula hidden in the school, the investigation stopped. They all assumed that was the monster, and Dumbledore convinced them that it had been just an accident so that Hagrid wouldn't be send to Azkaban."

"So that's why Hagrid was expelled… I've always wondered," mumbled Sirius, "that explains his loyalty to Dumbledore, he saved him."

"But I don't understand… If Riddle is the only heir, how did the chamber get opened in your second year?" asked Alice.

"A girl did it," answered Moody, who had been reading all about the chamber, "but she was possessed by Riddle."

Harry nodded grimly. "Lucius Malfoy gave her the horcrux diary without her knowledge, so she started writing in it. She was only eleven at the time." He took a deep breath, "when handling the horcruxes, you'll need to be extremely careful. All of them can possess you or influence your thoughts. You need to avoid touching them and being near them for long periods of time. They can make you mad. When you destroy them, they fight back with everything they learned from you, so the sooner you do it, the least they know."

Remus took his words to heart. He had no desire to be possessed by one of those things. He then asked the obvious question.

"If Lucius has the horcrux, where do you think he hid it?"

"I believe he has it in his Manor," answered Harry, "I know he has a secret room full of dark items, it might be there."

Moody perked up at his news and started making plans for a raid at the manor. He discussed them with Frank and Alice, with some commentaries from Sirius and Tonks. Harry just specified where the room was located and left to play with the kids for a bit. He seemed exhausted. Remus followed him to the living room and stood near the door, watching him interact with Teddy. It was obvious they loved each other greatly. It would be hard for Teddy when future Harry would disappear. Remus still needed to thank him for everything he had done, for Teddy, for Sirius and for himself.

After a while they returned to the kitchen and Harry looked at them tiredly. "Another of the horcruxes can be found at the Gaunt Shack in Little Hangleton. When Riddle was sixteen or seventeen years old, he paid a visit to his uncle Morfin and found out about the Riddle family. He killed his father and grandparents and modified Morfin's memory so that he believed he was guilty. Morfin was sent to Azkaban and eventually died there. I'm not sure if he has already died in this point in time… He stole a family ring from Morfin, an heirloom from the Peverell line, and he made a horcrux with it. The ring has a curse in it, so please, don't wear it under any circumstance. Also, the stone is magical, I'm not going to tell you what it does, but you shouldn't use it. It's really dangerous and can tempt you to kill yourself." Remus took his warning seriously, after all, if Harry who had faced a basilisk said the stone was dangerous, he believed him.

"The last horcrux should be easier to get. It's a locket that belonged to Slytherin and Riddle hid it in a cavern where he once went on a field trip with other kids from the orphanage. Dumbledore suspected he had tortured two of the kids there, so it was a happy place for him," he said with a grimace. "However, the horcrux isn't there anymore. Someone has already retrieved it."

"Someone else knows about them?" asked Moody sharply.

"Not really… The person who found out about it only knew about the one horcrux and died because of the cavern defenses," explained Harry.

"Where is the horcrux then?" asked Alice, getting impatient.

Tonks was silently looking at Sirius and Remus got a bad feeling about it. Harry, on the other hand, hadn't glanced at his godfather in a while, which was even worse. Harry then looked directly at Sirius.

"I'm really sorry Sirius, but you brother Regulus was the one who found out."

"Reggie?" whispered Sirius. "But… He was a death eater!"

"Yes, he was, but he changed his mind. I don't know exactly what happened, but Kreacher told me some of it," he ignored the revolted look on Sirius face at the mention of his house elf. "Regulus was ordered to provide Voldemort with a house elf, so he volunteered Kreacher. Riddle used him to test the cavern defenses and then left him there for dead. However, he didn't know that your brother had ordered Kreacher to return home after he was done, so he did that, his elf magic overriding every enchantment Riddle had set up." That was so predictable… Wizards always underestimate magical creatures.

Sirius was following the story with rapt attention, guilt written all over him. "Kreacher told Regulus everything and he somehow found out that the object there was a horcrux. Your brother returned to the cavern with the elf and recovered the locket, leaving a fake one behind. He died because of something he was forced to do to get it, I'm not explaining further, and he ordered Kreacher to leave him behind and destroy the object." Remus had an arm around his friend's shoulders in silent support. "The elf couldn't do it, so he still has it. To get it, Sirius just needs to call Kreacher and ask for it. You should be nice to him though, he is distraught over your brother's death and he was really good to me in the future. He even led Hogwarts' elfs in the final battle against Voldemort," Harry said, to the astonishment of all the adults there. Remus was ashamed to say he had never given much thought to elfs.

"The house elfs fought in the war?" asked Alice. "Did any other magical creatures?"

Harry snorted. "Several. Most of them on the other side." He shook his head. "I can't really blame any of them, with the way wizards treat them… Not that Voldemort is any better," the time traveler eyes fell on Remus for a second, "there were many laws detrimental to magical creatures sanctioned in my timeline that I hope you can stop this time. You can read all about it in the folder labelled _corruption_. I don't think we'll have enough time to talk about it, but it's important." Everyone nodded and Harry continued, satisfied with the response. "The other creatures on our side beside the elfs where the centaurs, a giant, Hagrid's thestrals, one of his hippogriffs…" he trailed off. "To sum up, Hagrid's friends can be useful," he smiled. "On the other side there were a number of giants, dementors, werewolves and the acromantula colony from the forbidden forest. Well, to be fair, the giant spiders were eating both our people and theirs so they were on their own side."

"Weren't they also Hagrid's friends?" asked Frank.

"They were but when their leader Aragog died they turned on him," Harry said matter-of-factly.

"Oh," said Frank, a bit lost how to respond to all that. He wasn't the only one.

Sirius brought them all to the present. "Should I call Kreacher now?"

Harry considered it carefully. "Not yet, there is something else I need to tell you first. Besides, we don't have any way of destroying it."

Remus made a motion to stop him. "I think we all need a little break first." Sirius looked gratefully at him. There were a lot of painful facts that he would need to process later. "Should we eat some lunch?"

"I think that's a great idea," agreed Alice.


	10. Running out of time

The day was getting weirder and weirder. He had expected it to be, meeting with a time-traveler was not supposed to be easy, but all that stuff about Voldemort's origin was unbelievable. He wished he had known that earlier, that he could have told his pureblood family that they were following a half-blood. But it was too late now, his little brother was dead and he had gone down fighting the mad man. He hadn't expected that at all… Nevertheless, he was so proud of him.

Sirius was worried about his friend Remus. He knew that he was trying to keep it together for him, but inside he was just as messed up. They had already talked about the Dumbledore issue, and the werewolf was having a hard time wrapping his head around all the horrible stuff the headmaster had done. Having Teddy and Harry had helped them cope. The children were making them both so happy… Sirius could see himself raising them, spoiling them. He only hoped he would be able to resume his healer training. He did need to stop being a fugitive first. According to Moody, that would happen sooner rather than later and then he could get his job back, he could work on the mission Harry was giving them and, most important, he could raise the kids without fearing that his presence was endangering them.

The animagus wondered where his little cousin fit in all his future plans. It was obvious that Remus was already smitten with her. But what did she think of him? What kind of relationship did they have on her time? Why did she come back in time? She told them the reason why the aurors wanted her to travel in time, but she never explained her own reasons to do it. Sirius was pretty confident Dora was there because of Teddy and Remus, but he wasn't pointing that out until she told them herself.

They were all just finishing lunch when something happened. Harry dropped his fork on the table and bend over gasping for air. He had his face scrunched up in pain and his legs were trembling with the effort not to fall over. Sirius rushed over to help him, but Harry raised one hand, warning him to stay away. The animagus stayed there, hovering beside him, while the others watched Harry holding their breaths. After a couple of seconds, Harry straightened himself and gave them all a weak smile.

"What was that?" asked Alice, worried.

"It was nothing," answered Harry dismissively.

"It didn't seem like nothing. Talk to us Harry," begged Remus and Harry's face softened.

"It was… it means my time here is almost up," he explained softly, "the timeline is trying to erase me."

Sirius was startled. He was aware that his godson would disappear that day, but he expected a little more time. He reached out and held him, gently to avoid causing him any more pain. Harry responded hugging him as well, and then they both felt two others joining in. Sirius recognized Remus and Dora and smiled happily.

They eventually pulled away, Sirius feeling a little better. He saw his godson wiping his face and his heart clenched painfully. He didn't want him to go away, ever, but he knew there was nothing he could do to prevent it.

"Thank you," whispered Harry shyly.

"You're welcome Harry," said Dora beaming at him.

The time traveler sat down carefully and run a hand through his hair. He seemed to be debating with himself what to do next. Sirius was worried, until then he had felt that Harry had planned everything - except perhaps his little cousin showing up. Finally, his godson summoned muggle pen and paper and started writing.

"Before we move on, we should go over this list I'm writing, as I'm now unsure as to how long I have left," explained Harry.

"All right Harry," nodded Frank.

Harry passed copies of the list to all the adults there. They looked at it curiously.

  * _Basilisk_
  * _Horcruxes_
  * _Accidental horcrux_
  * _Wards_
  * _Prophecy_
  * _Resurrection ritual_
  * _Dumbledore_
  * _Hogwarts_
  * _Ministry_
  * _Public perception_



It was all very cryptic, so besides the things they have already discussed, Sirius didn't know what each of those words referred to exactly.

"This is more of a to-do list. It's not exactly in order, so feel free to grab a pen and made notes on them." Harry had one in his hand and was writing on his own list. "We have already talked at length about the basilisk and the horcruxes so those are the first two tasks; to kill the basilisk and to retrieve the horcruxes. The third one I'm still not ready to discuss, but the task will be to research it, to find out if it's really a horcrux or just an echo."

Sirius added the words _slay_ , _retrieve_ , _research_ , next to each of the items of the list. "I assume that with "wards" you mean the ones we talked about placing in this house?" asked the animagus.

"Yes, that needs to be done as soon as possible, so consider it number one on the list," answered Harry vehemently.

"Okay Harry, we'll get to it today," assured Remus. Frank and Moody quickly agreed to help out, soothing the time traveler's nerves.

"Great. Now, regarding the prophecy, what I left out when we were discussing the issue is that there is a recording of it sitting in a shelf in the Department of Mysteries. I don't know much about that department, as everything is extremely secretive, but I'm aware that only the people named in the prophecy are capable of touching it. In this case, Tom Riddle and I." Sirius was listening eagerly. He had always been interested in that department and there was not much information available. He could sense his friend's enthusiasm beside him and smiled. They had both discussed plenty what the ministry was really researching in there, Remus even had said occasionally that he would have liked to work as an unspeakable. Sadly, the Ministry would never hire a werewolf.

"So, what do you want us to do, protect it from Voldemort?" asked Remus.

"No, that would be a waste of time and resources," answered Harry frowning. "You'll need to find a way of destroying it. It's a precaution, so that if Tom manages to come back before you find all the horcruxes, he won't be able to hear the whole prophecy. Anyone can destroy it, that isn't limited to the people named in it, just refrain from touching it."

Sirius wrote the word _destroy_ next to _prophecy_. "You are telling us to break into the Department of Mysteries?" he joked. But Harry didn't laugh at all. He answered him with a completely straight face "I did it once, I'm sure you can do it." Sirius jaw dropped. His godson kept surprising him…

"We'll probably find an easier way to get it lad," snorted Moody. "I've got some friends in that department, I can poke around and find out if there is an excuse for me to go inside and smash it."

"How I wish someone had done that in my time," muttered Harry. "Next topic, the resurrection ritual. In my timeline, Riddle got himself a new body with a potion that required some very specific ingredients that you'll be able to monitor. I left you the list, you can check it out whenever. What I really want you to do as soon as possible is to go to Little Hangleton's cemetery and vanish the bones from Tom Riddle Sr. which are the main ingredients." The words _destroy bones_ and _monitor ingredients_ were added in Sirius' list. "I don't think you'll have any problem with that, and keep in mind that the ring horcrux is near that cemetery." Sirius nodded, they had all saw the connection. So far so good, he was asking difficult things but it was very straightforward. He had a feeling that was about to change with the next name.

"The next issue is a difficult one, Dumbledore." Remus eyes were focused on the table, Moody was staring at Harry and Alice was clasping Frank's hand fiercely. Sirius kept glancing between all of them. "I just want you to answer me honestly, what do you think about him?"

Remus was the first to answer. "I'm not sure yet Harry. After everything you told us, he just sounds like an extremely manipulative person, but I'm having a hard time matching that image with the man who offered me the chance to go to Hogwarts." Harry was nodding along with his answer, as if he was expecting it.

"I get it Remus; he did something great for you. I just want you to think about it for a minute, did he do it for a selfless reason? Or did he ask for something in return?" Sirius didn't get what Harry was insinuating, but after a few seconds Remus did. His previously dejected pose changed to an angered one.

"He did… He asked me to spy on other werewolves. He asked me to infiltrate Greyback's camp as soon as I left school." Remus was almost growling, angry with himself for being so naïve. Sirius didn't blame his friend for falling for it; he had also idolized the headmaster, the almighty leader of the light. He got exceedingly annoyed when he listened to what the old man had asked from Remus.

"Did you do it?" asked Sirius. The werewolf was averting his eyes. "Answer me Remus, is this the reason why you disappeared for months at a time? Were you in Greyback's camp?" At this Remus looked up to him.

"No," he whispered, "I didn't get into Greyback's camp. I refused to do that, he is too unpredictable and he would have recognized me for sure… But I did spy on other camps." The animagus sighed with relief and hugged his friend. Why had he hidden the truth from them? They could have helped him… Well, to be honest, Sirius, James and Lily would probably have forbidden Remus to do it.

"So, the old man had been planning it all along, getting himself a werewolf who would follow him and fight in his little army?" asked Sirius, deceptively calm. Harry looked at him sympathetically.

"Yes, but don't just focus on that. I don't think the guy is an evil person who wants to take advantage of all of us and use us to dominate the world." Moody snorted, but the other ones where not amused. "What I think is that he just plans several steps ahead and he makes damn sure that he always has the best hand available. He allies himself with powerful and useful individuals who are all loyal to him for one reason or another. Dumbledore has an uncanny ability, not dissimilar to that of Professor Slughorn, to see the strengths and weaknesses in people and he uses that to his advantage. Like the potions professor, he created his own "club" and invited his chosen few. Nevertheless, just as Slughorn he gives a lot in return." They were all fascinated with this analysis, it had never occurred to them to compare the two professors. "None of you would ever say that dear old Slughorn is evil, and neither is Dumbledore. But I actually prefer to deal with someone who makes his intentions known like the former, rather than someone who disguises them like the latter." Sirius agreed, he had actually attended a couple of Slughorn's little parties and even if he didn't particularly enjoy them, he could understand the appeal of making connections with influential people.

"So, yes, Dumbledore did have something in mind when he let Remus attend Hogwarts. But he also had something in mind every time he interacted with each and every one of you. Or are you guys telling me that Remus here is the only one who joined the Order? I'm sure if we talk about it, we'll begin to notice the subtle manipulations that made you trust him, be loyal to him. I'm not even saying that he doesn't deserve it or that he has done something bad to you, all I'm trying to say is that he expected something in return."

Alice had been musing over all of it and felt there was something that needed to be said. "But he doesn't actually force anyone to do anything for him does he? He just kind of... expects it of you and looks disappointed when you don't."

"Of course, he is really subtle about it and keeps it light. For example, if Remus hadn't wanted to spy for him, the headmaster would have been annoyed and try harder to convince him, but eventually he would have let him go. His worst crimes are always those of inaction." Everyone was confused with that last statement.

"What do you mean by inaction Potter?" inquired Moody, interested.

"I mean that he ignores problems that are in front of him. I mean that he deliberately lets bad things happen, because they suit his plans. He doesn't _cause_ them; he just doesn't _stop_ them. Do you catch the difference?" Moody was pondering about it, but Frank apparently was having a harder time with it.

"But Harry, he is just a person, you can honestly blame him for the things that he didn't do," he said reasonably.

"In some cases you are totally right Frank. But when you are in a position of power, like being the headmaster of a school, you have certain responsibilities and the main one is keeping your students safe. If you failed to do that, you are not a good headmaster at all," explained the time traveler patiently. That upset them all, Dumbledore was many things, but he had for a long time been considered one of the greatest headmasters the school ever had. Tonks was the only one who seemed unfazed by all of it.

"Come on guys, do you really think he is a good headmaster?" provoked Harry, huffing at them. "I have plenty of evidence of his ineptitude during my schooling, but we don't really need it, just think about your own time there." He looked directly at Remus and asked "what was the worst incident that happen during your school years?" Sirius blanched, thinking about the failed prank with Snape and the Willow, but Remus had another thought.

"Four sixth year boys attacked a fifth year girl and left her bleeding in a corridor for the whole night," answered Remus, his eyes clouding over the memory. "She spent a week in the hospital wing and then went home. She never returned, I heard she decided to be home-schooled." Sirius shuddered at the memory. He had forgotten about it.

Harry then asked the same question to the others. Each of them told a gruesome story of attacks, pranks gone wrong, bullying. Sirius stayed silent. He was ashamed about some of his pranks, which were borderline bullying.

When everyone had shared at least a memory, Harry then asked them what the consequences had been on each of those instances. They all thought about it and they only came up with a month long detention, a quidditch ban and some extra homework.

"What do you think about it? Are those actions punishment enough? Did they teach the assailants to stop?" asked Harry, a hard look on his eyes. "In some of those cases, the kids should have been expelled. In some of them, aurors should have been called. How many of those children were already death eaters? How many of them became death eaters later? How many could have been saved if they were taught right from wrong? They learned that hurting somebody got them a slap on the wrist, so why not do it again?" Harry stopped ranting with a sad grimace.

"Sorry, it just baffles me that nobody seems to care about this problem. It's not exactly a new development, but nobody does anything." He traced the scar on his forehead, distractedly. "And that's just one example of Dumbledore's failure as a headmaster. I can point out history class, which is a joke where the students sleep, the muggle studies class, which is so outdated it's not even funny, the unfairness of the points system which promotes favoritism from the teachers. There is the caretaker position, which until this day I can't really comprehend. What exactly is Filch's job? To yell at students? There is the curse on the defense position, which could be easily broken by a competent Gringotts' cursebreaker. And I probably can keep going…" trailed off the dark haired man with a sigh.

Alice placed a calming hand on Harry's shoulder and spoke softly "now that you told us everything, what do you want us to do about it?" Harry smiled at her and answered simply "to make it better."

The time traveler then looked at Frank and asked him "is your mother on the board of governors?"

"Yes, she is," he answered slowly, frowning slightly.

"Okay then, we'll need her for this step of the mission. We are going to revolutionize Hogwarts and she will be the leader," grinned Harry. Frank was not convinced and neither was Alice.

"Harry…" began saying Frank. "Do you even know my mother? She is a pureblood and she likes Dumbledore. I'm not sure she'll help us with this."

"Oh I think she will, after all, some of those changes are her ideas," laughed Harry, ignoring the bewildered looks of the Longbottom couple. "Come on, open the folder labelled _Hogwarts._ "

Right there in the first page there was an envelope addressed to Madam Longbottom. "There is one letter from Neville and another from Augusta," explained the time traveler. "I think that would be enough to convince her. Besides, she is a good person, I'm sure she'll realize that what we are proposing is for the better."

The couple was still too stunned to answer him but the rest of them just laughed and agreed that the plan would work. Harry told them that many people had contributed to the reforms they have planned for Hogwarts, but they were mostly thought by Hermione. She did need Neville and Luna to help her understand the wizard's side, and also which ideas were doable and which were too idealistic. He explained that the changes would not be implemented in a year or even two, that it would take long term work. It should never end, as the world kept changing and the school should evolve with it.

"Do you understand why this is so important?" eventually asked Harry. "If we want to change the way wizards think and act, we should focus on the school, where most people begin to form their own opinions of the world. If we reduce the animosity between houses, there will be less polarized factions between adults later on. If we teach muggleborns about pureblood customs and purebloods about the muggle world, there will be less misunderstandings between them."

They all got it and thought it was genius. On the back of his mind, Sirius thought about Dumbledore and how he had encouraged the competition between houses. He always gave them points for their pranks, their more innocent ones of course, but still…

"Harry, we started talking about Dumbledore but I assume that all of this is only what you planned for Hogwarts, not the old coot," interrupted Sirius.

"Oh, yes, sorry. The reforms are what I mean for the item Hogwarts _,_ not for Dumbledore. Of course, they also affect him, as they'll show his shortcomings as headmaster, but that's not enough…" explained Harry.

"So, what do you propose we do about Albus?" asked Moody, while Sirius wrote _revolutionize_ right next to _Hogwarts._

"Well, that's something we discussed for a long time. We realized that the biggest issue with him was the amount of positions of power he holds. If you think about it, he is involved in almost every aspect of the wizarding world. First, in the school he is in contact with children and their families and is practically in charge of their education. Then, the Wizengamot, where he interacts with powerful families in addition to ministry officials and has a lot of sway in the approval of legislation plus the outcome of criminal trials. Last but not least, in the ICW where he represents magical Britain to the rest of the world, effectively deciding what image he want us to project." By the alarmed expressions of his companions, Harry knew that they all understood why having that much power was a problem.

"He can practically take over magical Britain if he decides to do so" whispered Frank, horrified.

Harry laughed bitterly. "Don't you get it? He _already_ _controls_ magical Britain. Now that Voldemort is gone, there is no one to oppose him."

A miserable silence settled between them. Harry just got up and made some tea for everyone, letting them digest the information. They could hear the children laughing from the other room and Sirius wondered when they had left the kitchen. He had been a little distracted with Harry trying to say as much as possible in the little time he had, but to not even notice them...

When the time traveler had sat on his chair again, nobody was surprised to see Moody taking the initiative. "All right Potter, what is your plan?"

"My plan is to return some of the power to the people. The people's greatest weapon? The press," he said grinning like mad.

Beside Sirius, Remus hummed thoughtfully. The animagus was also considering the idea. He didn't particularly care for the Daily Prophet, as the people who work there were a bunch of cowards who never reported what was truly going on during the war, but he could see where it would help if they had them on their side…

"I have already made contact with a reporter from the Daily Prophet and gave her some information for a few articles. Maybe you saw it in today's newspaper," declared Harry smugly.

Moody released a loud chuckle. "I should've known you were responsible for that. It was pretty good, Crouch will have a hard time getting past the scandal, the bastard."

"I guess you don't particularly care for him" asked Remus feigning innocence. He hadn't actually read the article and neither had Sirius, so they were both curious about its contents.

"He is ruthless, his methods are disgusting and his morals questionable," answered Alice, scowling.

"We are all in agreement," nodded Harry "For those of you who didn't read it, it denounced Sirius unlawful incarceration and painted Crouch as the main culprit. I'll help not only to prevent him to become the next minister, but also to convince the public that Sirius is innocent. Well, relatively innocent," he amended looking at his godfather. Sirius mock scowled at him, but he couldn't disguise his happiness.

"I assume you are planning for more? It didn't actually explain that Black was not a murderer, just that he was convicted without a trial" said Moody.

"Yes, that one just talked about the escape and planted doubts on people's minds, I was planning an article about Pettigrew's capture and confession. I told Rita that my associate Snuffles would be sending her the information in the next couple of days." He ignored the twin snorts at the nickname and the affronted look on Sirius' face.

"Rita Skeeter?" groaned Alice. "Why did you choose her? She is the worst of the worst!"

"I know," said Harry, "she is a gossip, she always writes sensationalists stories with just a speck of truth and a lot of assumptions, but people read her articles. They draw attention and for now, that's what we need. I made a deal with her, she is supposed to stick to the truth."

"Yeah well, I can admit that today's article wasn't bad… But I still don't like her," complained the witch.

Harry laughed. "Don't worry, I don't either."

Sirius cleared his throat "So, I will have to contact her?"

The time traveler nodded "Yes, if you don't mind, you'll be the one to send the information for the next articles. For now, just contact her by owl, it will be more than enough." He then showed him the folder with the information he was supposed to send. Before the article about Pettigrew, Harry knew that there would be another one condemning Crouch, using the news of the capture of his death eater's son. After that, he would be totally ruined and probably demoted to some low level department. Harry didn't pity the man at all. Then, the material Sirius would send about what really happened with the rat would be enough to keep Rita entertained for at least a week.

Harry explained that what they intended to do was not to write a big piece condemning Dumbledore, but to keep a steady flow of articles where the headmaster's name would appear, always showing some of his mistakes, questioning his decisions, his real intentions, his sanity… They wanted to subtly bring down his image. Rita had already begun by implying that he was part of the reason Sirius was sent to Azkaban without a trial. Eventually, they would have done enough to be able to get the Hogwarts Board of Governors to ask for his resignation. After that fall, it wouldn't take long for him to be stripped of his ICW position. The Wizengamot was trickier and harder to predict, but two out of three would be an excellent outcome.


	11. Playing politics

After some discussion about which facts to release to the press, how to do it, when to do it and whether to find another reporter to work with, Harry introduced another subject. The last item on the list, _public perception_.

"When I wrote that, I actually meant the public's perception of Harry Potter. I told you already what happened in my timeline. They knew me as the boy-who-lived, there were books written about me and children played with Harry Potter dolls," he told them, mortified. "My first and only girlfriend used to play with one of those when she was a little girl…"

Amused glances were thrown at him. Sirius was repressing his laughter. Remus was smiling widely and Alice had a fond look on her face.

"Yeah, yeah, laugh about it. I guess it would have been funny if some of what they said about me was actually true. Except it wasn't. When I arrived at Hogwarts as an eleven-year-old beaten and half-starved kid, people only saw the rich and pampered boy from the stories. They were only interested on gawking at my scar and asking me about the night I lost my parents. Of course, they didn't say it like that, they just said the night I defeated You-know-who. I didn't even understand who Voldemort was. I didn't even have a picture of my own parents. But nobody seemed to care about that, and I was too happy to be out of the Dursley's house to complain or ask questions." Harry recounted bitterly, his voice shaking at the end. The mood had drastically changed.

"I'm sorry Harry, you shouldn't have had to experience that," said Remus gently. Sirius knew his friend understood what Harry had gone through, the pain, the loneliness, hiding who he truly was from the outside world. His godson gave Remus a hesitant smile.

"Thank you Remus, and I'm sorry for being so harsh about it," he directed the last part to all of them, but they dismissed the apology, telling him he was right to speak up. "The reason why I brought this up is because we can change it know. We already know we will succeed, after all, Tonks here told us she had learned it as Lily Potter's defeat of Voldemort." Sirius remembered how enthusiastic his godson had been when Dora had mentioned that and now he understood why.

"How do you want to do that lad?" asked Moody "We can't just say out of the blue that we know what happened that night, nobody will believe it."

"Maybe not if you are the only one telling the story. However, Sirius here was the first on the scene that night. He will be on the public's eye for a long time after his whole wrongly imprisoned thing. People will feel sorry for him, will want to help him and believe him. So, he can tell them what really happened," suggested Harry a bit reluctant.

Sirius didn't feel comfortable with all the manipulations, but he knew it was necessary. They needed to get the story straight. He could see that Harry wasn't happy about it either but he nodded to him all the same. He would do what was necessary to protect his godson.

Harry sighed, troubled. "You need to be aware that all we are going to accomplish is to switch the attention from little Harry to Lily. The books would be written about her, the dolls would be made in her image. We can fight it though; you should hire a lawyer."

"A lawyer?" asked Remus, perplexed. Sirius, on the other hand, was contemplative. He could see the advantages of it, but it also meant more work.

"Yes, there will be battles that you won't be able to fight for yourselves. A lawyer will help you."

"I agree with Harry, if you want to oppose publishers and toy makers, the only option is to take them to court," approved Frank. "I don't think my family lawyer will be up for the challenge, but he might know someone trustworthy to recommend for you." Sirius was glad. He didn't want to hire any of his family lawyers.

"Excellent. There is another thing you should do with a lawyer as well." Harry was suddenly acting shy. "I think you should… I mean, if you want to… It would be helpful of course…" He kept stammering without finishing his thought.

"Harry, Harry, stop!" soothed Alice. "What's the problem?"

Harry turned bright red. "I'm sorry is just… I think Sirius should adopt little Harry." He finished the last part as fast as possible, staring at the table.

Sirius was baffled. Harry wanted him to adopt him? But he was already his godfather, surely he wouldn't need to do that, would he? It wasn't that he didn't want to adopt him, it was just the thought of replacing James that was stopping him. He felt a pang of hurt just by thinking about his best friend. He looked at Remus, lost, but he had an unreadable expression on his face, watching Harry closely.

"Harry," Remus said, softly, "why is that so important?"

"Because people will fight you. Maybe not so many now that little me won't be as famous as I was, but still, there will be interest. I want you to have as many tools as necessary to defend yourselves." He kept staring at the table, unwilling to look up. Sirius was starting to feel worried.

"What do you mean Harry?" asked Alice.

"I mean that a godfather claim can be contested. Let's say, for example, that in about a year little Harry gets into an accident. That stuff happens to kids all the time. Well, you take him to St. Mungo and someone finds out. Then they can start claiming that you guys are not enough to take care of Harry, that you are not responsible guardians, that Sirius is crazy because of Azkaban and that Remus is a werewolf. That they disappeared in the muggle world and the Potter heir should be in the magical world. There are so many excuses, so many lies that people can tell… I don't want Dumbledore or anybody else to take little Harry away from you." Harry was talking almost desperately, his eyes fixed on Alice and willing her to understand. But Sirius was the one who replied.

"All right Harry, I'll do it. As soon as my name is cleared, I'll adopt little Harry." The pain of that decision was worth it to see the relief in Harry's face. It was obviously important to him. Sirius thought about his relationship with James' parents, how they had taken him in. He would have been ecstatic if he had been adopted by them and that was probably what Harry was feeling. He smiled widely at him.

The moment was interrupted when a spasm of pain went through the time traveler. He closed his eyes and clenched the edge of the table tightly, his whole body shuddering. It was a few seconds before he was breathing normally again and opened his eyes. He offered them a shaky smile and slugged on the chair. Sirius realized that the last time he had done the same thing, trying to reassure all of them before relaxing. The guy was truly something else, experiencing pain and worrying about the other people in the room. It was something Remus would do, not James, he thought to himself.

Sirius remembered that they were supposed to be going through the list. He wrote _hire lawyer and publish real story_ next to _public perception._ The only item left was the ministry, besides the accidental horcrux that Harry kept skipping.

Remus had brought some pain relievers and convinced the dark haired man to drink them. As soon as the color returned to his face, he said he was ready to keep going.

"We should talk about the ministry," prompted Frank, delicately.

"Yes, the ministry. You lot probably now more about it than myself, so what are your thoughts on it?" asked Harry playfully.

"It's totally corrupt" grumbled Sirius, ignoring the reproachful looks from the rest.

"You do realize that four people here work in the ministry?" asked Alice exasperated.

"Well, you are the exceptions."

Harry ignored him and looked at Moody and Frank expectantly. The first one was a department head and the second one had lived with family that was into politics his whole life. Sirius had as well but he had always hated it.

"I wouldn't say that it's totally corrupt, but there are a lot of pureblooded bigots in charge of things," admitted Frank. "The worst of all is the Wizengamot. Many of the known light families were affected by the war, so right now the majority is formed by dark and neutral families."

Moody agreed. "We lost the Mckinnons, the Potters, the Bones, the Prewets. Their seats are empty for now, until proxies are named."

"We need to keep watch on those proxies. The age requirement is twenty-five, isn't it?" asked Harry.

"Yes, you can't take a seat until you turn twenty-five," answered Frank

"Well then, the Bones' seat will be inherited by Amelia and the Prewet's by Molly. They are both over that age. We need to make sure they do take them and not just give their votes away to other parties like Dumbledore. I'm not worried about Amelia, but Molly is quite fanatical of the headmaster, besides the fact that she has too many children to have time to play politics. In my timeline Dumbledore had it."

"We may need to convince her to find another proxy," mused Frank.

"Can we? None of us is really close with her…" said Alice doubtful.

"That's true, we only know the Weasleys because of Fabian and Gideon," agreed Remus.

Sirius shook his head. He hated politics, it made him think of his family. "Why do we need to get involved in this?" sulked the animagus. "I rather keep discussing the horcruxes."

Harry patted his back comfortingly. "I know Sirius; I hate politics too. However, this is just as important as the Hogwarts reforms and the press articles. Don't worry, I won't ask you to participate much."

"Much?" he repeated, horrified. "How about, not at all?"

Frank and Remus chuckled but Alice frowned at him. "Sirius, according to Harry you'll be the Black's head of family, so you'll have that seat. Moreover, until Harry becomes of age, you are going to be his proxy."

The animagus groaned and hit his head against the table. The guys were still laughing at his display and Tonks was giggling as well. Moody shook his head and sipped his tea waiting for them to calm down.

Harry interjected "you must realize this is a good thing. We need all the votes we can get. Wouldn't you like to be able to pass a law that allows Remus to adopt children? Right now he can't."

That was enough to convince Sirius and embarrass Remus. He looked at his blushing friend and resolved to do it just for him. He shook his head, astounded. His time traveler godson certainly knew how to make him do what he wanted.

"Fine, if this can help Moony, I'll take the damn seat."

"No, you won't," said Harry, amused. "I just wanted you to see that it's a good thing, but you'll definitely need to choose proxies. No offense, but I don't think you are much of a politician."

"None taken" answered Sirius, relieved, "who should I choose? Do you think your mum would do it?" he asked Tonks, who until then had remained silent.

"She'll definitely do it," she answered. "I don't know how long it will take you to convince her, but in my future she was still the Potter proxy."

"Great," declared Sirius happily, "that means she will also accept the Black seat, won't she?"

"No, she didn't," answered Tonks just as cheerfully, "and I won't tell you who did."

Sirius pouted. He didn't know who else he could ask to do it. Maybe Frank would be willing, but he doubted it.

"You have time to think about it," said Harry. "The seat isn't yours yet."

That's right, with all the talking he had forgotten his despicable mother and standoffish grandfather were still alive. Well, one less thing to worry about for the time being.

"Those families we discussed are all in the light faction, but it is aligned with Dumbledore," warned Frank. "I'm not sure what you attempt to accomplish."

"I want to reform the Ministry, just as Hogwarts," he said. "I know it'll be hard, but even if we just manage to make some little changes here and there, we'll be better off."

"To try and pass any reforms, you need to have the majority of the Wizengamot. Right now, the neutral and dark factions tend to work together and win every argument," explained Frank dejectedly.

"I know, but if you think about it, the reason they did that was because of Voldemort. It didn't matter that he technically hadn't taken over the Ministry, the truth was that he was in charge and nobody wanted to oppose him. That's the reason why it's so important to find all the death eaters infiltrated there, they are the ones who will continue to fight changes. The other ones, they were just working for self-preservation, nothing more."

"Do you think that now the factions will just change their minds?" questioned Moody skeptical.

"Of course not, their objective will remain the same, to survive and to do whatever benefits them," explained Harry patiently. "So, we just have to convince as many people as possible that our ideas benefit them. With the end of the war, we will work towards rebuilding, many things can be justified as necessary to avoid another conflict. For example, one of our ideas is to create a department to oversight the situation of the number of children orphaned or otherwise affected by the war, like the ones with family members in Azkaban. Of course, it also helps to keep an eye on death eater's families. However, they won't oppose the idea, what can they say? That they don't think it's necessary to look after children?"

Moody was still extremely doubtful of Harry's approach and he didn't hesitate to say so. "I don't know Potter, they can just refuse to do it and say that each family should care for their own children as it always been done."

Harry nodded, "of course they could just do that, but you shouldn't forget that we have Rita Skeeter as an ally."

Moody's evil grin and loud snort was enough of an answer. Alice and Remus, on the other hand, were a bit lost on the sudden turn of the conversation. "What can Rita Skeeter do that affects the Wizengamot?" asked the witch, confused.

"Many, many things" answered Harry cryptically. "Let's continue with the children's protection laws example. If the dark faction tries to refute the idea, Rita can publish an article with each of their names, making insinuations of the reasons why they don't want the ministry to look after their children. I'm pretty sure none of them will like the fact that they are being branded child abusers in the Daily Prophet, so they will certainly change their minds about the laws," he finished with an evil grin of his own.

"I get it…" say Alice slowly, "that's sneaky… Were you in Slytherin by any chance?"

Harry laughed out loud. "No, actually, I was in Gryffindor, but the Hat did consider putting me in Slytherin." He ignored the outraged face of his godfather. "I'm lucky I do have some Slytherin qualities, or else I wouldn't have survived life with the Dursleys," and just like that he killed the mood again. He cleared his throat awkwardly, "Em, right, so what I was trying to tell you guys is that to play the politics game you just need to use the right amount of threats and benefits. You have to convince the rest of them that it will be better to agree with you. There are a lot of suggestions on the folder labelled _Wizengamot_ , you'll have to see which ones work best."

"Harry, if you were muggle-raised, how did you learn all this?" asked Remus, intrigued.

"I haven't learned much honestly, I'm just repeating what Luna and Neville told me to say to you," he gave them a sheepish smile. "I'm rubbish at politics."

They all laughed with him, Sirius delighted to have something else in common with his godson. However, he didn't miss the small wince of pain that Harry made when his laugh was a bit too rough on his body. He decided to move the conversation along so that they could all take another small break.

"So Harry, do you have some other advice from Luna and Neville?" he asked teasingly.

"As a matter of fact, I do," the time traveler said with an answering smile. "They did say to make as many allies as possible, even if it meant approaching some unlikely people. It will help not only with the Wizengamot, but also against any move that Dumbledore might make."

Moody and Sirius frowned at this, not liking the idea of fraternizing with dark families. Frank, however, was pondering it. "Anyone in particular that you have in mind?" he asked.

"Maybe Narcissa Malfoy, if you guys manage to send Lucius to prison. She is not that bad…" he added the last part hastily at the look on Sirius face.

The animagus doubted that he could have a good relationship with his cousin, but he decided to think about it for a moment. After all, his judgement could fail him, as had happened with Pettigrew already. He thought about the Narcissa he knew about, the Slytherin ice queen, always proper and not giving him a second glance. But he also remembered little Cissa, playing with Regulus and him at Grimmauld Place, stopping Bella from tormenting them. He realized that she had never actually done anything wrong to him, she had just cut all ties. Maybe there was a chance to reconnect. Andy will surely be delighted.

He looked up to notice that Remus was waiting for his moment of introspection to be done. "I think he is right; she would be a great ally," muttered the werewolf quietly to him.

"I agree," answered Sirius, surprising his friend. "She is a good person you know, too much like Regulus, just following his family ideals… I had forgotten that." He had spent too much time looking at the world in black and white, good people and bad people. He chastised himself for it, he should have known better. The world wasn't split into good people and death eaters.

He saw Harry repressing another shudder. "Anything else about the Ministry, or shall we take a break?" he asked his godson, grabbing the attention of the others, who had been sharing their own small conversations.

"No, that's it, you guys can figure out the rest when you read everything my friends sent for you."

"Okay then, I'm going to play with the little ones," declared Sirius among the chuckles from the rest. He left to the living room and they all followed.


	12. The accidental horcrux

Finally, it was the moment that Harry had been dreading. He wasn't certain about the horcrux in little Harry's forehead, but there was something in there for sure and it had to be dealt with. The problem was the reaction from the rest of the adults in the room. That was why he had been postponing that particular explanation. He sighed deeply and stared at his hands.

They were all taking a small break. Harry needed it, as the pain had gotten progressively stronger since the first wave. It wouldn't be long now, he knew. He had a potion with him to take when he was ready to go, instead of waiting until the pain overwhelm him. Meanwhile, they were just spending some time watching the children play with each other, Sirius and Frank sitting on the floor among them, just as entertained and Alice not too far, laughing at the show. Moody was talking quietly with Tonks, his mouth quirking upwards almost imperceptibly at the amusing comments the metamorphmagus made. She was not completely focused on the old auror though, as she was also keeping an eye on Teddy, not yet daring to approach him. It was probably awkward for the poor girl. However, none of them had completely let go of the worries they had about Harry, and they kept sneaking covert glances at him, noticing each time he repressed a spasm. The time traveler could feel Sirius worried eyes on him and Remus presence on the couch right next to him.

Harry felt a particular strong aching wave and scrunched his face tightly. Remus' hand was on his shoulder, giving silent support. When he began to relax slowly, the werewolf leaned over him and whispered "do you need another pain potion? I don't know how effective they are but we can at least try…"

"No, there is no point… I need to get this over with," answered Harry slowly. "I just don't want to ruin the moment." He added, watching the adults and children having a good time. He was actually glad for the distraction they were providing, to be able to enjoy some time with them, even for a short while. To see his godfather playing with his little counterpart, as it always should have been, was filling him with bliss.

Remus stared right into his green eyes. "I understand Harry but you are suffering, they wouldn't want that…" he said gently, making the time traveler look away.

"Fine, just tell them to join me as soon as they can," he muttered, getting up with some difficulty and leaving to the kitchen. He was sure that Remus would inform them that the pain was getting worse, and he didn't want to witness the pitying looks.

He sat down, burying his face in his arms, closing his eyes and breathing slowly. He was no stranger to pain, as he had experienced many hurtful accidents during his not so long life, but that didn't exactly make it easier. It just helped to hide it. He kept breathing in and out as the adults got settled around him once again.

Harry raised his head, as composed as ever. He stuck his tongue out to his anxious godfather and managed to get a smile from him and light chuckles from some of the rest in return.

"There is only one topic left," he recounted for everyone. "We mentioned it a couple of times, but I was reluctant to discuss it because it will hit a little close and I really don't have as much information as I would like to."

"The accidental horcrux," said Alice helpfully.

"Yes, that. As I said before, I'm not even sure that's what it really is. It could be just an echo or residual dark magic from a curse but, whatever it is, must be researched because it might be dangerous."

"And how can we tell what it actually is?" asked Moody, straight to the point.

"Well, I'm not certain. As we didn't have the possibility to try them, we just look for as many methods as we could find, hoping that one of them would work. Moreover, we are not dark arts experts or healers and that's actually what we need for this…"

"A healer? Why would you need a healer?" asked Frank, surprised. But Alice had understood the problem.

"A person? You are talking about a person?" she questioned, horrified. Frank didn't get the statement but the rest of them did.

"You are saying that there is someone walking around with a piece of Voldemort's soul in them?" asked Remus shakily.

"I'm afraid so," answered the time traveler gravely. "I'm not certain that it is an horcrux but it's definitely some kind of connection with Tom Riddle. It gives the person some of his abilities like parseltongue and it also gives them access into Voldemort's mind."

"Well then it's extremely useful!" said Moody. "What is the downside? Is this guy a death eater?"

"If he was a death eater we shouldn't need to research this stuff," said Sirius reasonably. "We would just push him through the veil and be done with him."

Harry gasped violently, his hold on the pain faltering after hearing his godfather saying that. He knew he was being stupid, that Sirius didn't know that he had died by falling through the veil or that Harry was the one with the possible horcrux in his forehead, but he couldn't help the tears that started to pour down his face.

His breathing got labored and he could barely stay on his chair. He tried to calm himself, but his thoughts were still focused on the day Sirius had died, on his feeling of guilt, on his helplessness just watching as his godfather fall… He got worse when the image changed and he was the one falling, the scar on his forehead bright red, as it was before he had gotten rid of the connection to Voldemort.

* * *

Remus was on his feet immediately, followed closely by Sirius. He forced Harry's mouth open and fed him some strong pain potion, massaging his throat to compel him to swallow. It was difficult to do between the gasps and the tears, but he eventually managed. The pain receded to a more subdued level and his breathing normalized. The young man didn't stop crying though, so Remus stayed right there, moving his chair so that he was sitting next to him and rubbing his back soothingly. Sirius looked a little disgruntled, but he didn't say anything.

When he finally stopped tearing up, the werewolf asked cautiously "what happened Harry? That wasn't just the pain, did Sirius say something wrong?" The animagus looked sharply at his friend, but his guilty expression showed that he also believed the episode was somehow his fault.

"Yeah, I'm sorry, it's not your fault, you didn't know…" Harry muttered tiredly. "It's just, the veil, that was how Bellatrix did it."

"Did what Harry?" asked Remus uneasily. He was sure he didn't want to know the next horror from Harry's past.

"Killed Sirius," he whispered, like he was talking only with Remus. He was a little groggy from the potions. "She pushed him through it and we were there watching. You stopped me from going after him, even though I wanted to. Thank you Remus, you saved me," his eyes were closed by that point and he had collapsed over the table. A few seconds later he was sleeping in that uncomfortable position, leaving them all staring at him with various expressions of horror and sympathy for everything the young man had gone through.

"We should take him to the couch," proposed Alice quietly from Harry's other side. Remus nodded and lifted him up without any trouble. He laid him down on the couch and cautioned the children not to bother him. When he returned to the kitchen, they were all still in shock. Alice with her head over Frank's shoulder, he running his fingers through her hair, Moody drinking some firewhisky gotten God's know where, Tonks frozen in place with her hair a greyish color and her eyes suspiciously bright and Sirius… His friend was still staring at Harry's chair, his whole body hunched back in a defeated pose, his hands covering most of his face. He approached him slowly and sat down beside him, trying to think something comforting to say.

"It won't happen this time Padfoot," he said, with as much certainty as he could muster. "We won't let it."

"But Moony, it already has," he answered brokenly. "It doesn't matter if we give him the best life imaginable, I won't ever forget how much we failed Harry the first time around. How much I failed Harry."

"You didn't fail him," stated Remus firmly. "You survived twelve years in Azkaban and went back to him, you definitely didn't fail him." If anyone had failed Harry it was him, who apparently disappeared from his life for no reason at all. But Remus refrained from mentioning that.

"A lot of good I did, getting my godson invested in me and then dying in front of him. He would have been better not knowing me at all," retorted the animagus, despair dripping from his tone.

Remus was torn between hugging him and hitting him. He chose the latter, slapping him hard on the back of his head.

"Ouch! Remus, what was that for?" he asked surprised and a little hurt.

"For being and idiot," answered Remus. "How could you possibly say that it's better not to know someone instead of knowing them and then losing them?" His point not made, he continued, "would you rather not have known Lily and James at all instead of suffering their deaths?"

An angry look flashed across the other man's eyes. "Of course not!" he said indignant. "I loved them then and I still love them now."

"Then how can you wish for Harry not to have known you?" he said much more gently.

"I… I guess I can't. I'm sorry Remus, that was a stupid thing to say," admitted Sirius, ashamed.

"It really was Padfoot," the werewolf hugged him tightly. "But you're forgiven. It's not easy to hear about our own deaths." He let go of his friend and studied his face. He looked a little better. He glanced at Tonks, who was now drinking some of Moody's firewhisky and subtly moved his head pointing at her. Sirius got the message and turned to look at his cousin.

The girl was a mess but it was understandable. She was too young, too innocent. She had just graduated from Hogwarts, she had not lived through a war, at least not that she could actually remember. Tonks was training to be an auror but she hadn't been exposed to the horrors of the world yet. Remus suddenly felt extremely old compared to her. He laughed at his own thought. If he was old because of his experiences, then Harry was ancient…

Sirius took some of the firewhisky and attempted to make some light hearted conversation with Tonks. It took some time, but after a while she was laughing at the outrageous comments that kept coming from Sirius mouth. She was not the only one, as Frank and Alice were listening to them and were snorting in unison. Remus felt a smile on his face, and he was thrilled to know that they could overcome the bad times together. If they were all going to work in this mission Harry was leaving them, they would need each other.

They were interrupted by Teddy entering the kitchen. He announced that Harry was awake and quickly left again. His hair had lost the bright colors, remaining a brownish shade that hang limply on his head. They walked towards the living room to see Harry half-sitting half-lying on the couch, with Teddy settling beside him, cuddling with him. Remus heart broke at the thought of the hurt his son would experience with the loss of his godfather. He wasn't sure they would be enough to fill that void. But it was just as he told Sirius, it was always better to have loved someone and lose them that to never love at all.

He settled next to Teddy and Sirius sat down on the floor near Harry's feet. The rest of them took the armchairs, with Tonks also on the floor. They waited for Harry to speak.

"You understand now why it's so important to study the you-know-what." He avoided the word horcrux for Teddy's benefit. "It's inside an innocent person, so we need to figure out how to take it out without harming him."

"Do you know who it is?" asked Frank to the point.

"Yes," said Harry hesitantly. "He… He is just a child so it won't help you in your fight." He was still not naming who it was, but the thought of a child with a piece of Voldemort soul inside of him was enough to disturb them.

"How did it get made?" questioned Remus. "You said it was accidental but also that you needed a ritual and a specific action to create it."

"Well, this is where I'm just speculating. Tom was attempting to make another one of his objects, but during the final part of the ritual, the curse rebounded on him and his body was destroyed. Consequently, the ritual couldn't be properly finished and the slice of soul tried to return to him, but latched into the only living being in the room, the one he had attempted to curse in the first place…"

"Wait," said Sirius shakily. "Please, no." He went to pick up his little godson, and sat back down embracing him tightly. The kid didn't understand what was going on, but didn't protest at all. Remus and Sirius had talked about stimulating him more, to try to encourage normal responses from him after the damage the Dursleys had done to him. Apparently, they had a bigger problem to deal with regarding the boy.

Remus had reached the same conclusion as his best friend. Even if Harry hadn't said anything concrete, there was no other option. Who else had survived a curse from Voldemort that rebounded and destroyed his body? Little Harry was the one with the accidental horcrux inside of him. He started to shake uncontrollably. It was too much, too much had happened to them all. Why couldn't they just disappear from the world and live their lives in peace? Why should they involve themselves with this?

"I'm sorry Sirius," whispered Harry, hugging Teddy tightly.

"It doesn't matter," said Sirius after a few seconds, his voice strong, nothing like it was moments before. "We are going to take it out of him. He is going to be okay. We'll make sure of it." He kept stroking his dark hair while he talked, not willing to let go just yet.

Harry beamed at him, delighted, and Remus felt a thousand times better. Of course they would solve it, they had all the research from the future and they would continue searching until they find a solution. He ruffled Teddy's hair, noticing it had turned a happy yellow when Harry had smiled. His son was extremely sensitive to the moods around him.

"Does it affect him in any way?" asked Alice worried. "You said it gave visions and abilities, but does it affects him, personally?"

"If you are asking if it will change his personality, it won't, at least not while Voldemort doesn't have a body. I actually lived with it until I was seventeen and the only other issue I had were some mood swings that didn't belong to me, but It only happened once Riddle had his body back."

"So, Voldemort has mood swings?" asked Sirius, his mouth twitching.

Harry answered deadpanned. "Of course, he is just as angsty as any teenager, you have no idea."

Laughter filled the room for a while. When they managed to get control of themselves, Sirius made another stupid joke, starting them up again. They kept going for a while, until they were all out of breath and completely exhausted. Harry hadn't participated though, beaming tiredly at them from his place on the couch. Teddy didn't understand anything that was going on, but he was certainly laughing at all the crazy adults that surrounded him. When they were all silent once more, Harry whispered something on Teddy's ear and he reluctantly left his side and went off to play, taking little Harry with him, who followed like a stray puppy.

Harry asked Remus to cast some silencing charms around them so that the kids wouldn't hear the rest of the conversation. When it was done, he took a deep breath and lifted his hair, showing them the barely noticeable scar.

"There it was. The horcrux or whatever it was lodged itself in the scar."

"It's barely there," commented Frank. "Little Harry's scar is bright red."

"Yes," answered Harry. "It will remain like that until you take the thing out."

"How did you do it?" asked Moody.

"That's kind of a long story," he sighed, resigned. "But I will tell you. The day of the final battle, Ron, Hermione and I were looking for the last horcrux, a snake that Voldemort kept with him at all times." At their startled expressions, he clarified, "I didn't forget about it, it isn't an horcrux yet, he made it in 1994." He continued with the story. "We found it in the Shrieking Shack with Voldemort and Snape. We were watching them, waiting for the right time to strike. The snake was magically protected and we couldn't get near it without fighting the two wizards. We didn't stand a chance, to be honest," he admitted.

"Voldemort was worrying about a powerful item he had recently obtained, Dumbledore's own wand. He had stolen it from his grave. However, a wand's loyalty doesn't work like that. To be able to fully use another person's wand, you need to defeat them in battle. So, as Snape was the one who had killed Dumbledore, Voldemort figured that he had to murder him. He ordered the snake to kill him and left the Shack. We watched as the snake fatally bit him and left him for dead."

Everyone had dumfounded expressions again, so Harry stopped to answer any questions they had. It didn't take long.

"Snape killed Dumbledore?" asked Moody.

"Dumbledore's wand is especially powerful?" enquired Remus.

"How do you know so much about wand lore?" questioned Tonks.

Harry smiled at them, entertained, and answered. "Yes, Snape killed Dumbledore but the old man was already dying from an incurable curse. He was actually the one who asked Snape to kill him, the crazy bastard. Of course, he didn't see fit to inform anyone else about this so everyone thought that Snape had betrayed the Order. Dumbledore's wand is actually the elder wand, the one from the children story of the three brothers. It's powerful, yes, but it's not unbeatable. I know this much about wandlore because I had an enlightening conversation with Ollivander after we escaped Malfoy Manor together."

It took a moment for all of it to sink in, until Frank asked "you are saying that the Deathly Hallows are real? And Dumbledore has one?"

"Yes, he actually has two," answered Harry grumpily. "The second one doesn't belong to him at all. You should try to get it back." He directed the last part to Remus and Sirius, who were confused. The sandy haired man was still processing the thought that the known children's tale was real or, at least, based on facts.

"What are you talking about Harry?" asked Sirius, curious.

"My father's cloak of course," he answered like it was obvious and, in hindsight, it kind of was.

"James' cloak is one of the Deathly Hallows?" questioned the animagus, impressed. His look of awe changed to a frown. "Why does Dumbledore have the cloak?"

"I have no idea," answered Harry with a frown of his own. "He told me my father had lend it to him but now I'm not so sure."

"We'll get it back. There is no way he is going to keep it," said Remus fiercely. Sirius shot him and approving smile.

"Not to interrupt your beautiful family moment," grumbled Moody, "but Potter was telling us about how he got rid of the thing in his forehead."

"Right, we shouldn't waste any more time," said the time traveler, clenching his abdomen in pain. "Snape got killed, but just before he died, he gave me some memories." They all ignored Sirius muttered insults. "I went to Dumbledore's office looking for a pensieve and watched the memories. Most of them were about my mother, explaining that he was in love with her. Like I would care, he was still a bully to me and all my friends." Harry rolled his eyes, annoyed. "But some of them explained how he had convinced Dumbledore that he was trustworthy. Snape was the one who warned the headmaster that Voldemort was after our family. He was trying to save my mother. I don't know why that was enough for Dumbledore, but it was." He was not the only one rolling his eyes at that. "The last memory was the one that matter. The headmaster was saying that I had an horcrux in my head and that in order for Voldemort to die, I needed to let him kill me."

"No, Harry, tell me you didn't!" groaned Remus beside him.

"I'm sorry Remus," muttered the young man quietly. The werewolf understood now, the bitterness in Harry's tone every time he talked about Dumbledore. The man had ordered him to kill himself! There was no way to forgive that, no matter how good his intentions were.

"How could you do that Harry?" asked Sirius trying to keep it together. "How could you left your friends and everyone who cared about you behind?"

"That's how I did it Sirius," answered Harry. "I was thinking of them, all of them. You guys have to understand that I had been fighting since the moment I got my Hogwarts letter. I had lost so much. Every one of you were dead or as good as. I had just watched Hogwarts being destroyed, friends get killed in front of me, their bodies lying in a row on the Great Hall." He repressed a sob, "and I had the power to stop it, just with my own death. I didn't even hesitate."

They were all quiet after that, Harry sobbing a bit and leaning on Remus shoulder. The werewolf was trying not to picture Tonks and himself between the dead bodies in Hogwarts, but the way Harry was clutching his arm was telling him that he was indeed there. The time traveler made an effort to stop so that he could finish his story.

"I walked towards the Forest. In the way there I met Neville and asked him to get rid of the snake, after all, it was the only horcrux left and only Ron and Hermione knew about it." He had never explained who Ron was, but Remus was not going to interrupt him. "Once inside the forest I could feel the cold from the dementors. I took out a snitch that Dumbledore had left for me," he scoffed, angry, "which said _I open at the close._ I had never understood the meaning until then, he meant when I was there, walking to my death. So I whispered that I was dying and the snitch opened. The resurrection stone was inside."

"The third Deathly Hallow?" asked Tonks intrigued.

"Yes," answered Harry. "It's not real, you know. I mean, the stone doesn't actually bring the spirits from the dead. It shows shadow images from them, which encourage the user to join them."

"You mean; they try to make you kill yourself?" asked Frank horrified.

"Yes, that's what they do," answered Harry sadly. "That's why I warned you all to be extremely careful with the ring horcrux. The stone from the ring is the Resurrection Stone, but you shouldn't use it, ever, under any circumstances."

"We won't Harry" promised Remus.

Sirius hesitated a bit. Remus could see the temptation in his friend's eyes, the idea of seeing James again, even just for a second… "Are you sure they are not real?" asked Sirius.

"Would you ever encourage me to let Voldemort kill me?" retorted Harry.

"Of course not!" replied Sirius, adamant.

"Then it wasn't really you."

Nobody could refute that. Not that they wanted to either.

"Who else did you call?" asked Remus instantly regretting it. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked you that, you don't have to answer me."

Harry smiled perceptively at him. "Just you two and my parents."

"Oh," said Remus, touched beyond words.

"The four shadows walked with me to meet Voldemort. He was there with a group of Death Eaters. I just walked to him and he casted the Avada at me. Then, I was lying somewhere else, a strange place that looked like King's Cross Station. Dumbledore was there, who told me that I had a choice between dying or going back to life. So, I went back to life. I was surrounded by death eaters, so I played dead. Voldemort asked Narcissa to check that I was actually dead but she asked me if her son Draco was still alive. Given the fact that I had already saved his sorry ass two times that same night, I was pretty sure he was. She then told Voldemort I was dead."

"Good for her," said Sirius proudly.

"Yes, she was great. Then Voldemort, who loves the dramatics, decided to take my body back to Hogwarts. He ordered Hagrid, who was there as a prisoner, to carry me to the castle. The whole procession of death eaters followed us until we reached the crowd. Everyone was shouting for their dead savior – me." Harry shook his head astonished. "It was heart breaking to hear my friends and people like Professor Mcgonagall crying for me, but I had to keep playing dead for a little while longer. Eventually there was chaos again, Neville had defied Voldemort and killed the snake with the sword of Gryffindor," he winked at the proud parents, "it was awesome and it made him as famous as me. I managed to get under the cloak and wiggled my way until I was in front of Riddle. I had realized a while ago a very important fact…" he trailed off.

"Well?" asked Sirius impatient. "What was it?"

"That Snape had never been the master of the Elder wand, so Voldemort wasn't either."

"But, you said that Snape was the one who killed Dumbledore…" said Remus confused.

"Yes, but he also said that it was with his consent," said Frank wisely.

"There is something else that I haven't told you. The night that Dumbledore died I was there, I saw it happen. And I wasn't the only one. Draco Malfoy was there and he was the one who disarmed Dumbledore before Snape killed him."

"So… Draco Malfoy was the Elder wand's master?" asked Sirius.

"Luckily for him, not anymore. Otherwise, Voldemort would have killed him as well. I was the master of the Elder wand."

Comprehension showed in Remus eyes. "Draco and you had dueled and you won?"

"That's right."

"And what happened next?" asked Tonks excited. She wasn't the only one, they were all expecting the grand finale, the duel between Voldemort and Harry Potter.

"Riddle tried to curse me and I casted Expelliarmus at him. The elder wand just came to me, directing the Avada back to him and killing him."

"Just like that?" asked Sirius, half-disappointed half-relieved.

"Just like that," confirmed Harry.

"Wow, that was…" trailed off Tonks.

"Anticlimactic," suggested Remus.

"Yes, it was," agreed Harry.


	13. Goodbyes

Sirius had been seeing Harry getting worse and worse while he finished his story. The moment he stopped talking, he sagged against the couch and closed his eyes, breathing heavily. The animagus shared a concerned look with Remus and moved to sit down in the couch with them, nudging Harry in the process. The time traveler opened his eyes tiredly and attempted to smile at them.

"Hey," he said. "I told you everything now."

"I don't think so," denied Sirius. "You still haven't told us if you play Quidditch!" The animagus was deliberately buying time. He didn't want Harry to leave just yet.

Remus groaned next to them but Harry's face lit up. Great! His godson enjoyed Quidditch then.

"Of course I do!" he exclaimed. "I'm a seeker. I joined the team in my first year." Not a chaser like James, but as far as he could tell, it suited Harry better. The kid was probably excellent for Mcgonagall to let him join the team at eleven. Sirius felt the familiar pang in his chest when he thought of James. He would have been so proud of his son…

"First year?" asked Frank, impressed. "You must be pretty good then."

"According to these two, I fly better than my father," said Harry with a teasing grin.

"There's no way I said that!" protested Sirius among Remus' laughter. "Ja-Your dad would come back and haunt me!" He couldn't do it. He couldn't say his name, not like that, joking around. Remus caught the slip, but he didn't think the others noticed.

"All right, all right, you said that I fly as well as he did," corrected Harry good-naturedly.

"That I do believe," accepted Sirius grinning. At least his future-self had managed to see Harry fly. He wondered if they had ever flown together.

"You bought me an awesome broom…" the time traveler trailed off, unable to continue talking. Sirius heart sunk. Please, he just wanted a little more time with him…

"Do you want to lay down Harry?" asked Remus, worried. Sirius looked at him. He was probably feeling as bad as himself, but the werewolf was better at keeping his emotions in check.

The young man nodded, his eyes closed. The other two get off the couch and helped him down. They stayed on the floor, right next to him.

"A firebolt," whispered Harry, surprising them. "Best present ever."

Sirius smiled a little sadly. He had no idea what type of broom that was, but knowing himself it was probably the best on the market at the time. "Of course, you're the best godson ever."

They stayed silent for a minute until Harry opened his eyes and looked at the men in front of him, determined. "I need to go now." Sirius couldn't answer. He just wanted to shout to the world for everything to stop.

"How will this work?" asked Remus.

"I… I will drink a potion and disappear," he didn't look at them when he said that. Sirius suspected that the potion was the easy way out. But if the other option was for his godson to be in pain, he would support his decision. He would say goodbye and hold his hand until there was no more time.

Remus gulped beside him, "I think we should say our goodbyes then."

"I'll go first," offered Tonks, her hair mousy brown and her eyes red-rimmed.

* * *

Everyone agreed to leave and give them some privacy. He could see that his godfather was a bit reluctant, but Harry promised to hold on until he returned. Tonks approached the young man on the couch and petted his unruly hair.

"I love you Harry," she said quietly. He hated seeing her like that, missing her colorful hair and bright grin. But it all showed how much she cared about him and that warmed his heart.

"I'm glad," he said smiling at her, "I love you too. I'm happy to know I didn't manage to change that."

"You could never," said Tonks mock outraged. "Thank you, thank you for everything you did for my family. I've known Teddy since I was eleven years old and I know he'll grow up happy and surrounded by people who care about him."

Harry felt happy tears falling down his face and, seconds later, arms around him, holding him. She had no idea how much it meant for him to know that.

"That's all I've ever wanted. I wanted to give him the childhood I never had, but the future was so messed up, and I was so broken… I couldn't be there for him, at least not the way I wanted to be. I'm so glad to know that Teddy will enjoy his life. Thanks to you I can leave satisfied that my work here is done."

The methamorphmagus sniffled, her head over his shoulder. "You have already done so much more than that… Do you want me to tell you about the future? You have to promise not to say anything to the others."

"I promise."

"Well, I don't really know what happened with the whole horcrux business, but there wasn't any news about Voldemort since 1981. Most of the death eaters were caught by the end of 1982 and the ones that managed to avoid prison were put on a watch list that kept them from many things, including working in the Ministry or Hogwarts."

Harry released a long breath, pleased. "That's great!" he said. "But tell me about Remus and Teddy." He would have asked about Sirius as well, but he had a feeling that Tonks needed to talk about them more.

"Remus became an unspeakable and married a metamorphmagus named Isadora Black. They are very happy and raising their son together," she smiled sheepishly. "I'm not sure if I should tell him."

The young man laughed softly, delighted at the news. "Not yet," he said smiling "you should try dating him before proposing." He could imagine Remus reaction to that. He would run away for sure.

Tonks slapped him lightly on the head and mock pouted. "I wasn't planning on doing that!" she complained. "Just to tell him we are meant to be…"

"Yeah, that's a bad idea. You will scare him off," said Harry merrily. He then became serious. "It might take some time Tonks; Remus has to get used to the idea first. He met you for the first time today…"

"I know, I know…" she said, suddenly thoughtful. "I'm not ready for all that either really. I've known him for a long time as my cousin's best friend and I've also known his wife. He had his own family, his own life. I've never thought about him as boyfriend material." She grimaced at the phrasing and Harry agreed. "It's been a little more than a month since I found out about the whole time travel business and even less time since I found out I'm Isadora Black. I'm still adjusting."

"You have time," muttered the young man soothingly. "And I really love that name."

"I do too!" exclaimed Tonks cheerful. "Much better than Nymphadora."

Harry wanted to laugh, but the pain was getting worse. He just hugged Tonks tightly and hold on for some time.

* * *

After Tonks had finally left, Moody entered the room. He sat on the armchair next to the sofa and looked at the time traveler sympathetically. Harry was trying to muster the strength to sit up, but gave up quickly.

"Is there anything I can do for you?" asked Moody, in what Harry thought was the kindest tone the old auror had ever used.

"Not right now," answered the time traveler. "But I will appreciate if you keep an eye on them." The image of a blue magical eye showed up in his mind and made him grimace. He hadn't intended to make a pun. "They are so young; they need someone to watch over them. What I asked them to do is not an easy task."

"You are right about that," grumbled Moody, "but we'll manage. You gave us enough information to keep the risks minimum. I had several missions where I muddled through with not even half of the planning you and your friends did."

Harry didn't doubt that at all. His adventures had generally been with cero preparation, so he understood the feeling. He felt a strong wave of pain and couldn't answer. They stayed silent for a few minutes.

"That whole Dumbledore business," said Moody hesitant. "I can see it worries you. A lot more than you said."

"It does," confirmed Harry softly. He hadn't wanted to take all his frustrations out on them, and the headmaster had caused plenty. He tried to be as objective as possible while explaining the old man's reasoning. The time traveler wanted them to make up their own minds, otherwise he would be as manipulative as Dumbledore. However, he was afraid of him, of what he could do to ruin what he was trying to accomplish.

"I'll do my best to protect them from him," promised the auror, interrupting his dark thoughts. He was grateful for it.

"Thank you."

There was another moment of silent. It wasn't uncomfortable though.

"The girl seems to be a good addition to this team," observed Moody.

"Tonks? She is great," answered the time traveler, surprised by the comment. He took advantage of the opening to tease him a little. "In my time you were his mentor and she was your absolute favorite."

The old auror snorted at that. Harry wasn't certain if it was for appearances' sake or if he actually didn't believe it.

"Really, you guys had an amusing relationship," added Harry cheerfully. His demeanor changed abruptly. "She was devastated when you died." He looked right at him. The auror hold his stare.

"Is there another trainee you would like to recommend?" asked Moody, not sure if he was being sarcastic or not.

"Not a trainee but you might want to take an interest in Kingsley Shacklebolt."

Moody nodded. "He is a junior auror. Pretty good."

"More than good," said Harry seriously. "After Dumbledore and you were dead he was the leader of the Order. He was also Tonk's auror partner. They worked excellent together and he was best man in her wedding. He was a great friend for Remus after Sirius…" he trailed off, Moody already knew what he meant.

After a while, he added. "I wanted him to be part of this as well."

"Why didn't you bring him?" asked the auror curiously.

"I didn't think it would be easy to convince him, I don't know him that well," admitted Harry, "and I couldn't waste any time."

Harry hoped that after that conversation, Moody would think about including Kingsley on their mission. One more ally wouldn't hurt.

* * *

Alice and Frank entered the room together. Harry was glad, as he intended to tell them more about their son. He had grown fond of the couple in the short time he had spent with them. They had been great with him, letting him stay at their house, helping him rescue Sirius…

"I wanted to tell you more about Neville," he managed to say through the pain that wasn't leaving anymore. "I'm sorry we didn't get the time."

"Harry, it's okay, we don't really need to hear it. We'll get to know him the usual way," answered Frank with his customary calm.

"And we are so grateful. You saved us from a destiny worse than death," added Alice warmly, "it's thanks to you that we'll be able to raise our son."

Harry couldn't answer them, but he did smile at them. There was something he had been meaning to say though, so he waited for a few minutes until the pain was manageable again and stated "you may want to tell your family that Neville has already done magic."

"Why?" asked Frank confused. "He hasn't, not yet."

"Because of his uncle Algie. He tried to force magic out of him to prove he wasn't a squib."

Alice was horrified and Frank was angered. "Don't worry Harry, we'll take care of it," he promised.

"Sorry for ruining the mood again," he smiled self-deprecatingly. "It was important." Neville had never complained about his treatment by the older members of his family, he even liked his uncle, but Harry hated what he had done to his friend. It had made him doubt himself and his magic.

"It was, thank you for warning us," said Alice soothingly. "Now, tell us something happy. Did Neville have someone special in your time?"

"You mean like a girlfriend?" asked Harry, amused. That was not one of the topics he had thought to cover in their discussions.

"Or a boyfriend, we wouldn't judge," detailed Alice, with Frank nodding along.

Harry had to grin at that. They truly were wonderful people.

"He didn't really. He dated some girls, Luna for a while, then Hannah Abbot, a girl who was in Huffelpuff in our year."

"Which house was Neville's? You didn't tell us that," asked Frank.

"We were in Gryffindor. Neville, Hermione, Ginny, Ron and me. Luna was a Ravenclaw. But Ginny and I could easily have been in Slytherin, Hermione in Ravenclaw, Luna in Gryffindor and Neville in Hufflepuff. He is the most loyal, caring, hard-working man I had ever met. Don't get me wrong, he was extremely brave as well."

"Your friends sound great," smiled Alice.

"They are my family," answered Harry simply.

* * *

He could hear two voices arguing just outside the room. He chuckled and rolled his eyes.

"Why don't you just come together?" he shouted at them, wincing a bit from the movement.

There was a pause. Then two blushing men appeared through the doorway. "Hey guys," he said teasingly.

"Hey Harry," said Remus sheepishly. "Sorry about that."

"It's all right."

They stayed silent for a while. Harry was too tired to attempt to start a conversation and the other two seemed to be a little lost on what to say. It didn't last long of course.

"A healer," stuttered Sirius abruptly, Remus looking strangely at him. "You said you never knew what my job was. I was training to be a healer."

"Really?" said Harry. "I can definitely see you as a healer… But I would have never guessed it."

Sirius elbowed Remus, urging him to talk. The werewolf rolled his eyes at him but complied.

"I've always wanted to be an unspeakable," he confessed to the time traveler. Harry tried to conceal his happiness. According to Tonks, in her time Remus had achieved what he wanted. "But of course I can't," he said pointedly to Sirius.

"I wouldn't give up just yet Remus," warned Harry, his lips quirking upwards.

"He is right," said Sirius. "After all, we are attempting to change things."

Remus huffed noncommittally. Harry had to suppress his laugh. So pessimistic…

"In my time, you were my third year DADA teacher," he told the werewolf.

"I was? How? You said the laws were even worse than now!" exclaimed Remus. Sirius was smirking next to him.

"Dumbledore," he answered simply. The other two frowned beside him. "Yes, he was manipulating Remus again. But I gained an excellent teacher in return." The werewolf blushed once more. Harry was amused, he was worse than himself receiving compliments. He shuddered abruptly, his whole body aching. The guys were distracted though, and didn't notice it.

Sirius was intrigued by the thought of his friend as a professor. "How was him? What did he teach you? Is that why you said he was the one who teach you the Patronus charm?" He would have kept going but Remus put a hand over his mouth. He hurriedly took it out with an outraged yell after the dog animagus licked it. Harry looked incredulous at his godfather but the other man shrugged, unashamed. They were so unlike the people he had known, so young and joyful. He hoped they managed to stay that way for a long time.

"Well?" prompted Sirius.

Harry wondered what to tell him. He didn't want to get into the whole dementor situation, not when Sirius had just escaped them.

"My first class with Remus he taught us to fight boggarts," described the time traveler. "He was awesome and nobody had any problem defeating it. The funnier was without a doubt Neville's."

"What was it?" asked Sirius excited.

"Snape," answered Harry grinning at them. They both laughed, imagining what surely happened to that boggart.

"Really? Ugh I know he is ugly, don't tell me he becomes worse," mock shuddered his godfather.

"He does," answered Harry. He then turned somber again. "It really was funny, Neville dressed him up with his grandmother's clothes," he smiled sadly and let them snicker for a minute, "but if you think about it, he was our teacher and Neville was deadly afraid of him. That shouldn't happen."

Their mirth slowly vanished while they ponder on that. They hadn't considered it, they had been thinking about their classmate Snape, not the professor.

"You are right Harry," said Remus. "We'll try our best to stop that."

"He shouldn't be a teacher," added Harry. He suppressed a strong wave, but not enough to avoid the pitying looks. Thankfully, they didn't comment on it.

"If that's the result, I agree with you," stated Remus, continuing the conversation. Sirius nodded beside him.

Harry sighed in contentment. One more issue resolved and he hadn't even planned it. He thought about Teddy. He wasn't sure if he should say goodbye to him or not. He was contemplating the issue when his eyes began to feel heavier.

* * *

Sirius could see that the tiredness was overpowering Harry's pain. He was about to fall asleep, but Sirius couldn't let that happen. Not yet anyway.

"How well did you manage against the boggart?" he asked loudly, startling his godson and earning a reproachful look from Remus.

"I didn't actually face it. Not that time anyway," he answered to him, blinking slowly.

"Why not?" asked Sirius confused, but Remus understood the issue.

"I didn't let you do it," he stated. "Would it have become Voldemort?"

"No," answered Harry much more alert. "But that's what you thought at the time as well."

It made sense to Sirius then. Remus would never let that appeared in a room full of thirteen-year-old children. He was hesitating whether to ask or not and Harry caught it. The time traveler sighed deeply.

"A dementor," he said, not looking at his godfather. "Please don't ask me why."

"Well," said Remus trying to break the tension, "that is almost as bad as Voldemort. I'm glad that I stopped you from facing it." Sirius frowned. He wasn't sure what his boggart would be. He hated dementors, but they weren't his biggest fear. Probably Harry and Remus dead, but that wasn't what he really dreaded either… Loneliness, he realized. His biggest fear was loneliness. No idea how that would manifest in a boggart.

"Yeah," said Harry "but we talked about it afterwards and I convinced you to teach me the Patronus charm." He suddenly smiled. "You said that what I feared the most was fear. You called me wise."

Remus was beaming. Sirius was glad that his godson had some good memories of his friend. He wondered if Harry's boggart had changed. Probably, much had happened to him since he was thirteen.

"Of course Harry. Most thirteen-year-olds would fear silly things. Your fear was extremely mature for your age." He was suddenly sad and Sirius knew why. Harry shouldn't have had a mature fear. He should have been a kid, like everyone else. His godson didn't notice the change in mood though.

"They surely had," he sniggered quietly. "Hermione's fear was to fail all her classes."

They laughed with him. Sirius noticed that Harry kept glancing to the door. But everybody had said their goodbyes to him already. Who was he waiting for? Suddenly he realized. Teddy.

"Harry…" he started hesitantly. "Would you like me to bring Teddy?"

A pained expression showed on his godson's face.

"I… I don't know," he stuttered. He let out a small sob and Remus got a little closer to him. "I don't know if it's better to just leave or to say something to him."

"We can't answer that Harry. You are the one who raised Teddy. You should decide," said Remus softly.

Harry looked at him, overwhelmed. He clenched his jaw tightly and took a deep breath. Then, he opened his eyes and he was another person. There were no doubts, no pain. He was just as strong as ever.

"Bring him," he said to Sirius.

* * *

Remus wasn't so sure about what they were doing. However, he had been a dad for less than three days. He would leave the decision to Harry.

Sirius appeared with the boy clutching his hand. He looked scared, and that made Remus realize how brave the kid really was. In all the time Teddy had been with Remus, a total stranger to him, he had always been relaxed, happy even. It was only now that he was saying goodbye to his godfather, the only parent he ever knew, that he was showing fear.

Teddy released Sirius' hand and ran towards Harry. He laid on the couch with him, his head over Harry's chest. Remus felt like he was intruding, but he didn't want to leave and he suspected that Harry wouldn't want that either. The young man was talking quietly with Teddy, wiping the tears from his little face. Remus could hear Harry assuring his son that he would live a great life, make a lot of friends, learn magic at Hogwarts and have a little brother to protect. That last part made his heart swell. Of course, they would grow up like brothers, little Harry and Teddy. He even had a mother now, realized Remus. He hadn't think about her part in Teddy's life yet.

Teddy was answering that he would miss Harry every day, and 'Mione and Luna and Neville. He said that he couldn't wait to meet Mrs. Weasley and eat her food again. That made Harry laugh. Remus would have to ask about it. The boy promised that he would try not to be sad and that he would keep little Harry safe. Then he whispered something to Harry who nodded, grinning at him. Teddy loudly declared that he was the best godfather in the world – Sirius mock protested beside them – and gave him a long hug. Afterwards, Harry asked Sirius to take Teddy back to the others. The boy clearly didn't want to leave Harry, and he objected noisily, crying and kicking at the animagus the whole way to the kitchen.

Remus was stunned by how amazing Harry had been at handling that situation. As soon as Teddy was gone he had slumped on the couch, exhausted. His pained face was back on.

Although he was clearly hurting, he made an effort to talk. "I had already explained to him what was going to happen, so he was sort of prepared." That explained a lot. He wished Harry had said that sooner. "He will be a great big brother."

"I don't doubt that," answered Remus. "How old is he?" He was ashamed, he had forgotten to ask that earlier.

"He will be two on April 15th."

"They will go to Hogwarts together then," smiled Remus.

Harry nodded contentedly and closed his eyes. He opened them again when they heard Sirius returning.

"Teddy is young; he will forget about me." He raised his hand, stopping the other two from protesting. "Don't remind him that he lost me, I'll be there with him, as his little brother. I only ask that, when his old enough to understand, you explain everything to him. I left a photo album at Longbottom Manor. I think you'll enjoy it." The long speech took a toll on the time traveler, so they waited until he had caught his breath again.

"You'll be great," he said next. "I know you are worrying about it, but you guys will be great parents to those kids."

"Thank you Harry. I hope we'll live up to your expectations," said Remus emotional. Sirius was crying silently. "And thank you for everything you did for us and especially for Teddy. You are so good with him. You did an excellent job at being his godfather."

"I don't know about that," said Harry hesitantly. "After everything that happened and was still happening in the future, I was not the best person to be around. Teddy was stuck with four grieving teenagers. It was not the best place to be."

"How can you be so smart and so stupid at the same time Harry?" said Sirius shaking his head. "That kid loves you. He is happy, healthy, he can talk and walk. You may certainly be damaged, but that didn't stop you from being everything that Teddy needed."

Remus agreed with everything his friend was saying. "You are remarkable Harry." The time traveler was crying as well.

"Okay, okay, I just need to say some last things to you two." They both nodded. "Remus, give Tonks a chance. Don't you dare push her away. She is out of her time, so she'll need your help."

Remus wanted to object. He was a werewolf, he wasn't good enough for the cheerful, energetic witch. But it was not the time for that.

Harry rolled his eyes, frustrated. "I know what you are thinking and yes, you are good enough for her. Stop sabotaging yourself. Sirius, help him out with this, please?" Sirius smirked and agreed to do his best.

Remus quickly changed the topic with something he had been wondering for a while. "Teddy said something about Mrs. Weasley, was he talking about Molly Weasley? Why does he know her?"

Harry was momentarily confused and then a look of realization appeared in his eyes. "I didn't mention the Weasleys at all, did I?" he asked, seemingly ashamed.

Remus didn't understand what was wrong, but he gathered it was a touchy subject. "Not really, we talked about the Prewet Wizengamot seat…" he trailed off at the shaking of Harry's head.

Harry cleared his throat. "Ron Weasley was my best friend since I was eleven years old. Hermione, Ron and I were inseparable," he smiled miserably. "His family pretty much adopted me. I was there in the summers, I was friends with all his brothers and at sixteen I started dating his little sister, Ginny."

His eyes clouded and he struggled to continue. Remus was worried, he didn't want Harry to hurt even more than what he was already feeling.

"A few months after Voldemort's death, Hermione, Ron, Ginny and I were attacked. They killed Ginny and Ron. That was the moment when Hermione decided to research time travel," he smiled through his pain. "She was in love with Ron. Had been for years."

A heavy silence settled around them. They all understand the pain of losing people they loved. There was nothing that could possibly be said to make it better.

"The Weasley twins had extraordinary talent. They were inventors, they created prank products. You guys will like them." The cheerful comment caught Remus off-guard but luckily Sirius responded as enthusiastically as his godson. He promised to help them to develop their inventions and to invest on their shop.

The next wave of pain was excruciating and Harry whimpered softly, not able to stay quiet anymore. He clenched Sirius hand with all his strength. The mood got desperate once again and Harry began talking quietly.

"I chose you two to raise me. You guys are my family. Don't forget that and don't let me forget it." He barely waited for an acknowledgment before he continued. "If things aren't resolved before I go to Hogwarts, you'll have to tell me everything. Don't let me be unprepared. Don't let me be open to manipulations."

"I bought some Christmas presents for all of you. They are in Longbottom Manor. I didn't get one for Tonks though, I didn't know she'll be here. Teddy helped me choose them."

Remus couldn't believe it. After everything Harry had done for them, he also remembered to get Christmas presents. The werewolf hadn't bought any that year. He had thought he wouldn't have anyone to spend the day with. He had never been happier to be proven wrong.

Sirius was hugging his godson and Remus joined them. They separated when the shudders from the time traveler were too intense to ignore anymore. They all had tears in their eyes. Sirius was still holding Harry's hand and Remus was running his fingers through his hair.

"My cloak is in there as well. Take care of it." With that last request, Harry reached for his pocket and took a bottle with a reddish potion. He was about to drink it when he stopped and added his last thought.

"I would have liked to be a curse breaker. Make sure little me knows it's a possibility, but don't push it. He may consider Quidditch, but if he is anything like me, he will hate the fame."

Harry then took the potion and closed his eyes. A peaceful expression settled on his face. He was totally relaxed for the first time since they had met him. And then, he wasn't there anymore. There was no flashing light, no thunderous noise, no painful scream. One second he was there and the next it was as if he had never been there at all… Or that was what Remus thought until Sirius picked up the wand Harry had left behind.


	14. Mourning and baking

Tonks was trying to hold back the tears. She had only known that incredible man for a few hours, but he hadn't been that much different from the Harry of her own time. He had been hungry for affection, more damaged, more scarred and quite cynical. Of course, older, as the Harry she knew wasn't even in Hogwarts yet. Nonetheless he was the same kind, powerful, loyal, brave person she left behind.

If she was having a hard time, Tonks couldn't even begin to imagine how the others were feeling. Sirius had seemed quite attached to his grown-up godson; Alice had been really supportive and understanding the whole time he had been there, always prepared to calm him down with a slight touch, to help him during the rough parts of his tales. Frank was a rock, so reliable, permanently offering useful advice or asking well-thought-out questions. Moody was difficult to describe but he had supported him as well, in his own grumpy way, even laughing at the unbelievable things Harry had done. And then there was Remus… She didn't understand the man at all. He was so hard to read; she couldn't really interpret him. Her eyes focused on the werewolf. He was still crouching next to Sirius, comforting him the best he could.

They both had entered the kitchen a few minutes ago to announce that Harry was gone, and after that the dog animagus had broken down on the floor. Alice had made an attempt to reach out to him, but Remus had stopped her and had taken over.

"It's like losing James all over again," gasped Sirius between sobs. "Worse, because we had to watch and couldn't do a damn thing." The werewolf tried to calm him down, but his friend wasn't responding to him.

The metamorphmagus would have liked to go there and comfort them, but she hesitated. She wasn't sure how welcomed she was. They didn't actually know her, not really. Tonks suddenly felt so alone, away from her time, with no one to help her. She had told the others that several aurors had been offered the chance to go back in time, but she didn't specify how many had accepted. Not many, and all of them older than her. None of her friends had wanted to do it.

She wiped the tears that were finally falling and chastised herself. She was not alone. This people would become a family to her, she knew it, she had seen it happen. So no more self-pity. The metamorphmagus suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder and she turned around to see Moody offering her some firewhisky. The young woman had already drunk her fair share of it earlier, but accepted anyways. Then, she saw as the old auror approached Remus and wordlessly handled him some potion. The guy accepted the bottle, barely looking at the label, and force-fed it to Sirius. He was asleep in no time, snoring on the floor.

Remus just looked at him blankly, not moving anymore. Frank tapped his shoulder gently.

"Do you want me to take him to a bed?" he offered.

The sandy haired man nodded and Frank levitated the animagus to take him to the nearest bedroom. When the two men were gone, Remus moved to a chair and collapsed over the kitchen table. Alice settled down next to him with little Harry in her arms and she rubbed his back comfortingly, not uttering a word. Eventually Remus looked up.

"Where are Teddy and Neville?" he asked when he saw the little boy in her arms.

"Upstairs, asleep," answered the witch. "Teddy got tired after crying so much and Neville always takes a nap at this time of the day. Harry here doesn't seem to be tired at all," she added the last part cooing at the kid, who had his emerald eyes wide open, taking in the scene in front of him. He hadn't spoken a word in all the time since Tonks had arrived at the house. It was a bit unnerving.

"Can I… Do you mind if I hold him for a bit?" requested Remus hesitantly.

"Of course not," replied Alice, handing him the child. The werewolf's expression changed the moment Harry was in his arms. He seemed at peace. Tonks couldn't take her eyes off him.

She had been thinking a lot about the handsome werewolf. How could she not? Tonks knew without a doubt that they were destined to be together. It was quite an intimidating concept; she had always been an independent type of person, doing whatever she pleased whenever she wanted. To have the choice already made for her, it scared her and angered her. But nobody forced her to go back in time, not really. She made that decision all by herself.

Tonks sighed and tucked a strand of brownish hair behind her ear. She hated losing control of her ability like that, it made her look so vulnerable. Still, there was nothing she could do about it, it was linked to her emotions and she was too distraught to make any effort to fix it.

Her thoughts returned to the situation at hand. Tonks hadn't lied to Harry when she said that she didn't mind being in a time loop for the next eight years. The metamorphmagus would live her life normally; she wouldn't know what was supposed to happen. Except for that huge thing; she would end up with Remus. She had joked around with Harry, saying that she would inform the werewolf that they were meant to be, but she didn't intend to do that at all. Tonks had known the sandy haired man since she was a kid and she had seen him as an adult all that time, Teddy's dad, happily married. It would take a while to get used to this new Remus, single, only four years older than her, extremely attractive, father of her son.

That was another huge issue to figure out. She was a mum. The little kid she had known for eight years, whom she considered her little cousin, was her son. She knew Teddy quite well. Tonks knew he was deadly afraid of bats, that he loved strawberry ice-cream, that he played gobstones like a pro. He had confided in her, no long before leaving her own time, that he was going to try to get into Gryffindor to be with Harry, even if everybody could tell that he was definitely a Ravenclaw. Nonetheless, the most important fact was that Teddy was the reason why she decided to go back in time.

Frank returned soon and sat down quietly next to Alice. She leaned on his shoulder and closed her eyes, finally letting some tears fall down. The wizard was not any better, staring at the little kid in Remus arms with an inscrutable expression. Tonks hadn't known the couple that well in her own time, but she could tell that they were kind and loving people and she could feel their suffering as if it was a tangible thing.

The mood was not helping any of them, especially not little Harry, who was hiding his face on Remus' chest, his tiny fists gripping his shirt. The werewolf summoned a stuffed dog and offered it to the boy, who reluctantly let go of his clothes and hugged the small toy. Remus whispered in his ear, trying to make him smile with not much success.

Suddenly, Frank stood up and approached his boss. He announced that he was going to start working on the wards. Moody agreed to help out and Alice decided to joined them, after confirming with Remus that he would be okay. She took Harry with her, as they would need his presence to perform some of the spells. Tonks didn't really felt up to going with them, so it was just Remus and her left. She wasn't sure what to say to him.

"He was a great man," she muttered quietly.

"He was," agreed Remus. "He sacrificed everything to save the Wizarding World."

Tonks snorted. She could see the astonished expression on his face. "He didn't do it for the Wizarding World," she said rolling her eyes. "He did it for you," declared simply. "And for Teddy, Sirius, Neville and his parents. Even Moody and me. He did it for the people he cared about."

Remus eyes had filled with tears and they were soon running down his face. He was sobbing on his hands and Tonks didn't hesitate anymore. She got closer and wrapped her arms around him. She knew she had made the right choice when the man didn't push her away, instead clinging to her tightly. They stayed like that for a long time.

Finally, Remus pulled away. "Sorry about that," he said, blushing fiercely. Tonks found it adorable.

"Don't worry. You have every right to be upset."

His amber eyes were focused on her and she hold the stare. She could see the pain in them, the loss, but there was also something more, like curiosity maybe. A few seconds later, he was the one to break contact. He cleared his throat.

"I know that we have much to figure out. You probably want to spend time with Teddy…" he looked at her questioningly.

Tonks nodded. "Yes, I do. But we can work that out later."

He was obviously relieved. They had participated in too many important conversations that day already.

"You should spend Christmas with us," blurted out Remus. He blushed again. "I mean… I assumed you didn't… Maybe you have someone else…"

"No one else," she stated interrupting him with a smile. "I don't really get along with the other aurors who time traveled with me and I haven't made contact with anyone besides you guys yet."

"Oh," said Remus. "Well then, I don't know what we are going to do but you should be with us. You are family after all."

"Indeed I am," muttered Tonks quietly.

She gazed at him again. Maybe it wouldn't be as hard as she thought. Not only did she had Sirius there to help her get used to living in that time, but there was also Remus and that was turning up to be a good thing. They did get along wonderfully. He could see that the crying had helped the man a lot, but he was still so sad… She decided to cheer him up a bit.

"Come on, let's do something fun."

"Like what?" he asked puzzled.

"I don't know, what do you like to do? Dance? Cook?" she suggested teasingly.

"I don't mind cooking but I'm not very good at it," frowned Remus.

"Well, I'm not much of a cook either, but I can bake," said Tonks thoughtfully. "Let's make some chocolate cookies," she proposed excited, jumping slightly on the spot. Cookies will surely cheer everybody up.

"All right," agreed Remus amenable. "But we don't have much of ingredients here. We would need to go out and buy some."

That was even better. It would be good for Remus to get out of the house for a while and clear his head. It would be good for her too, she was starting to feel a little trapped in there after a whole day practically seated in the same place.

"Shall we go then?" prompted the metamorphmagus, already walking out of the room. The werewolf merely made a show of protesting and soon followed, getting the coats, scarfs and other winter wear on the way to the front door.

It was great to be out, under the stars, breathing fresh air. Tonks could feel better already and she could see it was having a positive effect in her companion as well. They had found the others near the entrance, concentrated in the runes and wand movements necessary to create the complex wards they were placing around the house. They had barely nodded when Remus and Tonks informed them where they were going. Harry had looked at them with his huge eyes and smiled a bit when they waved at him. Tonks took that as a win.

Before long, the witch was enthusiastically walking and bouncing with each step, while staring at the man beside her. She was so busy watching him that she suddenly lost her footing in some loose tile. Tonks was about to face-plant on the floor when she felt a strong arm supporting her and she awkwardly regained her standing, glancing at Remus embarrassed. She mumbled something about being unfocused and he laughed lightly. He had a playful smile on his face, one she had never seen on him; she suspected he was well aware of the reason why she was so distracted.

Neither of them mentioned it though, and they started an easy conversation about Hogwarts. The metamorphmagus informed Remus that she had been in Hufflepuff and they bantered for a while about the strong points and weaknesses of each of their houses. She was careful not to include much future data; it was frustrating to censure herself but she had been warned against sharing too much. Tonks wouldn't actually mess anything, the future would happen whether they knew about it or not, but to live with the knowledge could be a difficult burden. It already was for her, the tiny little piece of information about her soon to be husband weighing heavily on her chest.

And yet he did have a way to make her forget about it. In a short time, they were talking about everything from their families to their favorite type of music, neither of them even noticing when they arrived at their destination. They stood outside the shop, chatting and laughing until Remus commented on it and they finally entered.

They found what they needed quickly enough. Apparently, Remus had made cookies plenty of times, because he knew exactly what to get and how much. Tonks filed that bit of information about him. She was enjoying getting to know him, they had never talked like that in her time.

They had already paid and were returning to the house when Remus asked the first question about her current arrangements.

"Did you and the other aurors change your names when you arrived here?"

"Actually, we had to made up whole new identities for each of us," explained Tonks.

"So, what is your new name?" asked Remus curiously.

"Isadora Black," answered the metamorphmagus promptly. She shrugged when she saw his incredulous face. "I intend to have contact with my parents and Sirius, so being a relative make things easier. Besides, I rather stay close to the truth instead of lying outright."

"I can understand that," said Remus slowly, "but can you back that story up? The Black family is well known; it won't be that easy to just say you're one of them."

"Easier than you think. There is at least one disowned squib cousin, Marius. I'm planning to claim that I'm his granddaughter. He doesn't show up on the family tapestry, so neither would any of his descendants. He is also dead, so it would be difficult to verify the story."

"You have everything well thought," approved the sandy haired man.

Tonks chuckled. "Of course I have. I didn't just come here on a whim you know. I planned my backstory with the help of my bosses in the auror department." The werewolf blushed slightly, embarrassed. He apparently had forgotten that little detail of her being on a mission. She added one more thing, staring intently at him. "I'm also going to say that I'm twenty years old instead of eighteen."

He immediately understood why. "Because of Teddy?" he checked.

"Because of Teddy," confirmed Tonks. "I hope you're comfortable with that. It's just, I would like to say he is mine..."

"I'm okay with that," he said, a little too quickly. A slow grin spread through Tonks' face. He blushed even redder than before and looked down, avoiding her gaze. "I'm actually grateful that you thought of doing that. I would rather not have people thinking that I was with you when I was twenty and you sixteen."

She bumped against him playfully and answered, "I wouldn't want that either. It could have been dangerous; they could have thrown you in jail."

Remus snorted bitterly. "You are forgetting I'm a dark creature. They would have just executed me and be done with it."

Tonks didn't know what to answer to that, so she just stayed silent. A troubled mood settled around them. That was definitely not what she wanted when she suggested to get out of the house. She decided to keep talking so that they might move past it.

"I'm also considering saying you were my private tutor…" she told him teasingly.

Remus attempted to say something but began coughing, startled. "That's awful!" he finally gasped, while the witch patted his back, amused, "you want people to believe that we had a teacher-student thing?"

"It would explain how we met… I think that's believable don't you?" she speculated ignoring his reproachful look. She had no intention to ever say anything of the sort, but she enjoyed making him react like that.

"Oh they would believe it all right," he muttered indignantly. Tonks sniggered quietly and his mouth twitched slightly upwards. He was soon hiding his grin behind his hands, shaking his head like he was exasperated with her. She knew better of course.

They arrived back at the house on quite the cheerful mood. Both of them looked for the aurors and found them on the other side of the house, finishing the warding. Remus quickly got them to relinquish Harry, as they had finished with the steps that needed him, and the three of them entered the house.

The man left all the bags in the kitchen and went upstairs. Tonks was puzzled by it, but she sat Harry on the kitchen counter and began taking the ingredients out, chatting with the kid and attempting to make him respond. She was trying to find a bowl when Remus returned, carrying an old radio.

"What is that for?" asked Tonks jokingly. "I thought we decided to cook instead of dance."

He just shrugged, setting the device on the table and turning it on. "I always listen to music while I cook."

She smiled, delighted, and listened as Remus searched for a song he liked. When he settled for one, it was one of her mum's all-time favorites, so she knew the lyrics from start to finish. The metamorphmagus was not a self-conscious person, so she loudly sang along with the music. She could see Remus' amused grin but Tonks didn't care, so she kept at it, grabbing Harry and swaying to the music, making the little boy laugh.

Remus watched them fondly until the song ended. He then clapped noisily and laughed when Tonks answered by bowing and thanking him, with Harry in her arms the whole time.

"Now that the show is over, let's make some of those cookies!" prompted Tonks enthusiastically.

The werewolf agreed so they divided their tasks. Tonks was mixing the butter and sugar with Harry's assistance while Remus turned on the oven and prepared the baking pan. The little kid was dropping more sugar outside the bowl than inside, but Tonks waved her wand, using a spell her mother mastered after the metamorphmagus' many accidents in the kitchen, and returned the spilled ingredient to the little cup, cleaning it in the process. Harry was thrilled with the magic and dropped some more sugar to see it again.

Not long after, the cookie dough was ready and the three of them were shaping small amounts into little balls and then flattening them to place them on the tray. Harry was having the time of his life and was covered with the stuff. He was not talking yet, but he was beaming and participating. Remus had begun to hum along with Tonks to every song on the radio and the witch was finally feeling at home for the first time since she had arrived there.

She was absorbed in those thoughts when Remus interrupted her. "Tonks?" he said tentatively.

"Yeah Remus?"

"Do you mind if I call you Dora now? I don't think I'll be able to start calling you Black."

The witch laughed, surprised. She had never even think about them calling her Black. "I don't mind. Actually, I'm thinking about asking everyone to call me that, or Isadora. I like that name, after all, I chose it."

"The only problem will be around the little you," commented Remus.

"Yes, but it's not even that much of an issue. The only people who actually called me Dora were my dad and Sirius. My mum always called me Nymphadora or even Nymphy," she grimaced at the name, "and my friends Tonks."

"All right, Dora it is then," he declared, smiling at her. Tonks felt a flutter in her chest and looked away. She was distracted when Harry held her arm with one of his sticky hands and repeated "Dora."

Both adults were stunned and quite pleased. They celebrated and congratulated Harry, telling him how much they liked hearing his voice. The little kid got a bit overwhelmed with the attention, so they dropped it and returned to the cookies with huge smiles on their faces.

Tonks hadn't forgotten about the pain they were all going through with the loss of the adult Harry. She hadn't fully come to terms with being in the past with a predetermined love life. She hadn't even decided how she was going to approach her relationship with Teddy. However, in that moment, having fun with Remus and Harry, she felt that everything was okay. Whatever needed to happen, would happen. There was no point worrying about the future. Together they would get past their pain and every other obstacle that would come about.

* * *

Remus had been having so much fun with the lively witch. She had managed to make him laugh more than once, despite of the grief he was still feeling. His sorrow dimmed when he looked at her, when she made a face at him and punched his arm teasingly. They were actually baking cookies, something that he hadn't done in a very long time. She had succeeded in making Harry talk! The boy had said her name and that was a huge progress. Remus just wished Sirius would have heard him…

His cheerful mood vanished with that single thought. He had forgotten about him for a while. His best friend was not coping well with the loss of grown-up Harry. Remus probably should go upstairs before he woke up from the potion-induced sleep; Sirius was going to be mad at him for drugging him, but he didn't regret it. He slumped on a kitchen chair and watched as Tonks placed the cookies in the oven. He would wait until the first batch was ready and then he would confront his friend. At least he would have cookies to bribe him with.

He tried to maintain a conversation with Dora but she easily figured out that he was too distracted. She didn't seem to mind, chatting with both Remus and Harry, neither of which actually responded to her. Even if he couldn't concentrate on the words she was saying, he found it comforting to have someone talking to him, instead of wallowing on loneliness and silence.

Finally, the cookies were out of the oven and he was ready to head upstairs. The werewolf informed Tonks where he was going and she recommended to take Harry with him. They made their way towards Sirius' room and knocked softly on the door. There was no answer.

"Padfoot, are you awake?" asked Remus tentatively. No sound came through the closed door.

The werewolf opened the door and peeked inside the room. Sirius was awake, laying on his back and staring at the ceiling. The image painfully reminded him of himself in the same position a couple of days ago, overcame by grief and confusion. He needed to snap his friend out of it.

"Sirius…" he said, reaching to touch his arm. "Sirius, please, answer me…"

"What do you want me to say Remus?" asked his friend in a tired voice.

"Anything. Please don't shut me out. You are not alone in this Padfoot, you have me, little Harry, Teddy, Dora, Alice, Frank and even Moody. We are all here for each other and we are all suffering."

"You are right of course," he said, still with the same dull tone.

Remus sat Harry on the edge of the bed and the kid moved closer to his godfather. The man ruffled the boy's hair and a couple of tears fall down.

"I know it hurts right now, but we can't stop living. Two kids are depending on us and, after everything Harry told us, we have much to do."

"I know that Remus!" snapped Sirius crossly.

"Then please, got out of bed. We made cookies!" he pleaded, desperate.

A hint of a smile appeared on the animagus' face. "Cookies?" he asked.

"Yeah, Harry, Dora and I baked them," replied Remus, glad that his friend was interested. The boy beamed and nodded at Sirius inquiring look.

"So she is Dora now, isn't she?" questioned Sirius teasingly. Remus blushed but he also grinned at him. If his friend was teasing him already, he was going to be okay.

"Shut up, Padfoot," was his brilliant reply.


	15. Looking forward

It was Christmas day in the Potter-Lupin-Black household and Remus was relaxed against the couch, basking in the sounds of laughter and cheering from the three children spread over the rug. Sirius was sitting amongst them, just as entertained by his cousin's antics. They were all facing the armchair where Tonks was perched, reading a storybook and morphing her features to act out every part with a different appearance for each character; a red haired witch, an evil monster, the dashing hero. The boys were amazed by her impressions and so were the adults watching the scene. Alice and Frank had flopped down on another armchair and Moody in one of the straight back kitchen chairs, where they could all see the metamorphmagus and follow the story. Sirius had been laying right next to Remus until he got too excited to stay put, so the werewolf had pushed him out to the floor with the boys.

It was early in the evening and they had enjoyed and amazing day. Tonks had been staying at their house since the night before, what meant that she was able to witness the kids – and the adults – enthusiastically getting out of bed and running downstairs as soon as they woke up to open their presents. They had a brilliant morning playing outside with some of the gifts, Sirius taking advantage of his animagus form to run around madly chasing everyone and rolling in the snow. They eventually went back inside to have some lunch and wait for the Longbottom family to arrive after spending part of the day with Frank's relatives. Half an hour later and Moody was there as well. The old auror had been working, as he always did during the holidays, to let other people spend time with their families. Luckily, there had been no major issues and he could leave to have a celebration of his own.

Of course, it wasn't perfect. Remus couldn't forget about the people absent from the festivities. James, Lily, the grown-up Harry. He knew that Dora was also missing her parents and probably her friends. Additionally, they had all lost other people during the too long war and Christmas time made everyone a little more nostalgic than any other day. Sirius had been bringing Remus back to reality every time he zoned out, reminiscing about the past, and the werewolf was grateful. He tried to return the favor for his friend, but the animagus was in good spirits, only getting a bit sentimental when the kids had opened his first presents of the day. Remus had feared that Sirius' attitude would change as soon as they began to open older Harry's gifts for them, but there he was, laughing his head off. He smiled at the scene and concentrated on hearing the end of the story.

"…people of the village were never the same after the defeat of the evil monster of the mountain. They all had to learn how to live their lives without fear. The warrior of the light eventually married his lady-friend and they had a large family, with four sons and a daughter. Their days were full of adventures till the very end and they shared each and every one with all of their friends, who had been as heroic as the warrior himself. They could always trust that, if a new enemy eventually arise, they would be able to defeat him, working together. The end."

Everyone clapped and whooped. Remus joined, even if he had only listened to part of the story.

"Aunt 'Mione wrote it, but said Ron made it up," informed Teddy proudly. Remus made a mental note to read the tale later. If it was important to his son, it was important to him.

"These are awesome," said Sirius, examining the book he had stolen from Tonks. "Did he make up all of these stories?"

"Not exactly," replied Dora, reading the note that came with the book. With Teddy's excitement over the gift, they had ignored the card until then. "Most of these stories are adaptations from muggle fairytales to fit in the wizarding world and the few original ones are based on their lives, Harry's life. She said the originals are Ron's ideas and the adaptations hers."

"Who is Ron?" asked Alice, curious.

"Aunt 'Mione's boyfriend. He died," said Teddy matter-of-factly, startling Tonks quite a bit and making her drop the note. Her reaction confused Remus, until he realized that the young witch probably knew the Ron Weasley of her time, a ten-year-old kid. Even if they had already listened to several future deaths, it was disturbing to hear about children they care about dying.

"Here is another present!" interjected Sirius gleefully, "it is addressed to Remus and me, from Harry." He opened the package and stared at the old parchment that was inside. He was speechless.

"What is it Sirius?" inquired Frank, peering at the gift. Remus was watching it carefully. Could it be?

"It's something we made; Harry's dad, Remus and me," Sirius still had trouble mentioning James by name and he seemed to be trying to erase Peter from most of their memories. Remus wasn't sure what to think about that. He focused on the old parchment. It really was the Map, or at least, his friend thought so… He took it from him and pointed his wand at it.

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." He felt a rush of excitement while he recited the familiar phrase. Thin lines of writing appeared and the sandy haired man grinned as wide as he could. He hadn't thought they would ever see their creation again. Teddy, who had gotten closer to look at what his father was doing, gasped as drawings filled the blank parchment. Harry was on Remus' other side, watching everything with his intense gaze.

"Wow," said Frank amazed. "Is that a map? A map of Hogwarts?" He had stood up and was looking over Remus' shoulder.

"Really?" exclaimed Alice, thrilled. Tonks was observing with interest and even Moody appeared intrigued by it. Remus stroke the paper lovingly and then handed it to Alice. She examined it in wonder, pointing out details to Frank who had returned to his wife's side to study the map with her.

"Does the note say anything else?" asked Remus to the dog animagus, who was getting rather smug at the praises. He did have a reason for it, after all, the Marauders – James, Remus, Sirius and Peter – had made the map when they were barely sixteen.

"It says that the Marauder's Map was extremely helpful to Harry and his friends in every adventure and he wanted to return it to its proper owners."

Moody was inspecting the artefact with a calculating look. "This will be an excellent tool to sneak into the school to deal with that basilisk," he finally declared.

Remus happy bubble almost burst with that comment. He didn't want to think about it. Not yet. He knew that they needed to make plans, but he wanted to enjoy the holidays for a little more time. Both him and Sirius were still adjusting to their new lives and dealing with their own grief, Harry's speech and shyness issues and Teddy's tantrums when he missed the people he had left behind in the future. It wasn't easy.

They were managing though; Harry was already saying their names – his own version of them – and Teddy was beginning to focus more on the present. Sirius had convinced him to take the kids Christmas shopping with them, both the black haired man and boy under heavy glamours to avoid being recognized. They had stayed in the muggle world just in case; Sirius status as a wanted man hadn't changed yet, so they rather not risk Diagon Alley or Hogsmeade for a couple of trinkets. Moody had informed them that Pettigrew's trial would take place before the New Year and the truth would come out then.

"It will be tremendously useful," agreed Frank, "especially if we intend to avoid Dumbledore."

"We do," grumbled Moody. "I've been thinking about it, I believe we should get an ally from Hogwarts, so that they can tell us when the Headmaster leaves the castle."

"That would be great, but who? Mcgonagall?" asked Alice.

"Not a chance. Great witch, but too loyal to Dumbledore," said Moody shaking his head.

"Flitwick?" proposed Sirius. "He wasn't in the Order. He is a clever guy, if we explain the situation, we should be able to convince him. Well, maybe not me, but some of you might." Remus had to agree. Even without the whole mass murderer problem, Sirius was known as a prankster, so it would be difficult for him to get the small professor to take him at his word.

"I can try," offered Alice. "I've always get on rather well with him."

"She does," confirmed Frank.

"All right then, we'll leave that up to you," accepted Moody. "For the rest of us, we all have our own tasks to work on. Frank, you should to talk to your mother and bring her up to speed. Sirius, you need to manage the Skeeter business. I will be handling the prophecy."

"And what do we do?" asked Tonks, pointing at Remus and herself.

"Research, lots of it. To get started, anything that can possibly help us to deal with a basilisk." Tonks grimaced. She was not a fan of research then.

"What's a basilisk?" questioned Teddy puzzled. Remus pulled a face. They shouldn't be talking about it in front of the children…

"A giant snake, very dangerous," he answered vaguely. "And a topic not to be discussed in front of the kids," he chastised Moody, who looked a tad apologetic. Neville was not paying any attention to the conversation, but the other boys had been listening to everything they were saying. How much they understood, he didn't know.

As always, Sirius was the one to change topics. "So boys, this awesome map shows where everyone is located inside of Hogwarts. Let's see who is spending Christmas in the castle." The three of them got comfortable around Sirius, Harry on his lap, Teddy perched on one side and Neville on the other. The animagus extended the map in front of them and they played "find the dot" for a while, with him naming each person they found and making observations for every individual like, "that's Hagrid, he is a half-giant and looks really strong and mean but he is the gentlest person you can find. That's Minnie, she pretends she doesn't like pranks, but I know she secretly enjoys them. That one is probably a student, sounds like a Ravenclaw… Yes, she is going to the tower." His running commentaries amused the rest of them to no end, and they were soon giggling like crazy people. Even Moody released a loud guffaw at the animagus' mutters about Filch and his horrid cat.

When Sirius had run out of things to say, they decided to move on to another present. They found the biggest of the packages, addressed to all the adults, and opened it.

"Is that what I think it is?" asked Frank, astonished. He was not the only one.

Inside the large box were some sort of clothes made of a strange material, greenish and scaled, like the skin of a serpent… They reminded Remus of dragon skin vests, but the garments were more complex than that. Tonks took one of them out of the box and held it high to have a better look at it.

"I believe they are made of basilisk skin," she declared in awe. "But I have never seen anything like it."

"I don't think any of us have seen anything like it," grumbled Moody, taking another. "Basilisks are supposed to be extinct after all."

"As if we needed tangible evidence that Harry actually defeated one of those beasts…" mumbled Frank under his breath. Alice nodded beside him, too stunned to talk, caressing the priceless material.

Remus grabbed one himself and examined it a little more closely. It had, as he had thought, a type of vest as chest protection but it also included a couple of gauntlets each, sturdy boots and more flexible parts to shield legs and arms. It looked like an armor, just missing the helmets. There were six of them, one for each of the adults present. It was strange, because Harry hadn't known that Tonks would be there…

"They are Harry's costumes," stated Teddy disinterested, not understanding why the grown-ups were wasting time playing with clothes. Remus grinned and put the armor back in the box, hearing Sirius and Dora's chuckles in the background.

"Let's find something more fun. Why don't you three choose the next package?"

"Okay," nodded Teddy eagerly. He was already in the middle of the pile of presents, of course, so he looked around thoughtfully for a while until Neville decided which one he wanted.

"This one" he pointed, determined. It was pretty big as well and covered in a shockingly bright purple and magenta wrap. Teddy appeared doubtful but he agreed and they get Harry over there to help them destroy the outlandishly colored paper. In the front of the box there was a logo with three W interlocked and the name "Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes".

Remus and Sirius shared an excited look, remembering what Harry had said about the Weasley twins. The werewolf felt like a teenager again, both wary and enthusiastic about the pranks his friends loved to pull. He was a little concerned though, the products might be dangerous for not even two-year-old boys, but he shouldn't have worried. Inside the big package there were two smaller ones, clearly labelled, the first one with a picture of a toddler and the second one with an old man. He heard Sirius snickering. Remus guessed that they were supposed to be the old men and felt a little offended.

The boys went directly for the kid's box and opened it. Neville took a yellow pack of biscuits that had a drawing of a canary and examined it longingly but Teddy bypassed him with a cry of joy and grabbed a smaller object. It was thin and tall, like a bottle of some kind, and seemed to contain a liquid. Teddy shook it eagerly and then approached his father.

"Daddy, make a really big one!" he said full of enthusiasm, handing him the toy.

The werewolf felt the warm that always filled him when he heard that word being directed at him. He beamed at his son. "A big what, Teddy?" asked Remus, puzzled at the request.

The boy's grin faded a little but then it came back at full force. "Easy, you just have to blow!" That didn't clarify much, but the kid mimicked the action of opening the bottle and taking something out to blow through.

Remus unscrewed the top of the bottle and took out the plastic stick attached to it. As soon as it was out of the vial, the end of the stick expanded until it was a ring of the size of his hand. The sandy haired man then understood what he was supposed to do.

Teddy positioned himself right next to his dad and waited, looking attentively at him. Remus assumed that the boy would run to catch the bubbles, as he had seen muggle kids do, so he pointed towards an empty space in the room and began to blow softly. A bubble began to form, but it didn't come loose, so he kept at it, watching in astonishment as it grew as big as Teddy himself. It finally come free, floating close to the floor. The kid shrieked with delight and jumped in it. Remus expected the bubble to burst and soak him, but the boy went through it and began floating within the bubble, rising to the ceiling.

They all watched in wonder as Teddy bounced around the room, but soon both Neville and Harry were asking for their own bubbles. Remus was happy to oblige, and the place was filled with laughter once again.

"How big do you think you can make one?" asked Frank good-humoredly to him. "I want to do it as well!"

"Me too," sighed Sirius beside them, deeply disappointed. "But I don't think there is enough space for us in here."

"We can clear a room at my house and try it some other day," proposed Frank excited. Alice and Tonks immediately said they were in and Remus agreed a few seconds later. It really seemed fun. Moody just shook his head and grumbled something about overgrown kids, but the werewolf was sure that he had seen his mouth twitching the tiniest bit upwards.

After the bouncing bubbles, they continue sorting through the rest of the WWW products. There were headless hats that you put on and made your head invisible; canary creams – the biscuits Neville had grabbed - turned you into a giant canary for five minutes; trick wands that dye everything they touch in different colors and an assortment of other tricks and toys. They were all incredibly entertained and they hadn't even begun to look into the "old men" stuff. They decided to leave that for the time being, to be able to go over it without the kids there.

The rest of the evening was spend opening the remaining gifts. There was a mixture of emotional and useful objects, like a collection of charmed galleons to communicate with each other inconspicuously and a series of defense books that puzzled them all until they read the dedication that was written on the first page, from Remus and Sirius future selves to Harry.

All in all, the day was a resounding success and everyone had a good time. Remus couldn't believe that it was happening, that he had been able to climb back from the pit of despair he had been in and actually enjoy his life. It was more or less the feeling he had experienced when he had become friends with James, Sirius and Peter. Sometimes he still thought that he didn't deserve that much happiness, but then he looked at the way is friends treated him, how his son searched for his approval and little Harry trusted him with all his heart and he couldn't deny that, werewolf or not, he was accepted as a part of that small family and that exceptional group of people.

He was looking forward to spending the rest of his life with them.

* * *

Sirius was having the time of his life. He had always loved playing with Harry and having three little kids to mess around with was great. The Longbottoms were awesome as well, caring, with a fantastic sense of humor and always up for trying new things. Dora was just as he remembered her as a kid, witty and mischievous. Furthermore, she possessed such a strength and determination that made it difficult for her to fail in anything she set her mind to do. Moody acted as a grumpy old man most of the time, but he was as curious as any of them and didn't back down from any challenge. Sirius was glad to have him as an ally.

The dog animagus knew that he might be trying to overcompensate the grief that he had been feeling not so long ago with so much cheerfulness, but he was bent on making Harry and Teddy experience the greatest Christmas he could give them. He had done his best to keep Remus from brooding too much and he had pushed all negative thoughts out of his mind, at least for the day.

After ample amounts of excitement, the kids had fallen asleep easily. They had fed the boys an early dinner and ushered them to bed when they were about to fall from their chairs. The adults were taking advantage of the quiet to have their own celebration, with plenty of food and drinks.

"Dora?" probed Sirius hesitantly when there was a lull in the conversation. "When are you going to contact your parents?"

She sighed wearily and her hair flash to a dark blue. "I'm thinking of waiting until little me is off to Hogwarts."

"All right, that's probably a good idea. I might see them sooner though," he warned her, twiddling with his fork. "I'm sure that Andy will try to contact me as soon as my name is cleared."

"Knowing my mum, she most certainly will," agreed the metamorphmagus smiling.

"Are you going to tell them the truth about you?" asked Alice, who had been listening to their talk.

"Yes, definitely. There is no way that I could trick them, they both could see through my morphing since I was five."

Sirius snickered, remembering some of Andromeda's stories about Dora as a baby. He had actually met her when she was about four, since Sirius's parents hadn't let him had any contact with the Tonks. As soon as he escaped from them, Andy had reached out to him. That was how he knew she would do so again.

"You should take some backup when you explain the situation to them," advised Moody, sniffing his drink and taking a large gulp. "You don't know how they will react to the news. They may not believe you at first."

"I know, you said so the first time," said Tonks with a long-suffering sigh.

"That's right, he was still the Head on you time wasn't he?" inquired Frank, curious.

"I shouldn't have told you that… Yeah he was, I was in training though so I only really met him twice before the time-travel mission started."

"Are you going to start training right away?" questioned Alice, a thoughtful look on her face. Sirius couldn't fathom why. As far as he knew, neither Frank or her were involved in auror training, as they had only finished their own a few years ago.

"That was my intention. What about you, Sirius? Do you want to resume your healer training?"

The animagus face lighted up. "Yes, I would like that. I've been thinking about being a healer since I was fifteen."

"Really? So young? I always assumed you decided to do it because of the war…" mentioned Frank, surprised.

"No, I saw some of my friends getting severely hurt when I was at school and it felt wrong not being able to help… So I decided to learn how," he glanced surreptitiously at Remus, but nobody except the werewolf noticed it. Well, maybe Moody but he wouldn't mention it.

"Having a healer will be useful to deal with the accidental horcrux situation," said Remus, changing the subject. "That way we don't have to risk finding someone else willing to keep the secret."

"Yeah, well, we should look for another healer even so. The sooner we can get it out the better and I have at least three years of training left," grumbled Sirius unhappily.

"Don't forget we still don't know much about it; it may very well take us three years to find out how to deal with it," sighed Frank dejectedly.

"I know, I know. We need to do some research…" the animagus groaned tragically. "Between that and my training my head will explode." He hit his head on the table and got mashed potatoes on his hair, causing everyone to snigger. He looked up, confused and pouting, and only provoked them further, getting chortles in return until Alice took pity on him and cleaned him up with a napkin.

"So, that means we are all going to be pretty busy in the next few months," summed up Frank once the laughs had ceased. "The auror office will be dealing with the free death eaters, that would take most of our time." He said the last part looking particularly at his coworkers. Moody nodded in return.

"The information Potter left us about confirmed and suspected death eaters will be vital at this point," declared the old auror, a hint of satisfaction coloring his tone. "The only issue will be justifying some of those arrests, but we'll manage."

"Considering what we had to do to prepare and that the next few months will be hectic for everyone, when do you think we'll be ready to face the basilisk?" asked Alice.

Remus cleared his throat, grabbing everyone's attention. "At the very least, we should wait until the term is over; that means we'll have the summer holidays to access the castle and deal with the problem."

"I agree, the fewer people at Hogwarts the better," nodded Frank. "We don't know how this will go, we shouldn't risk kids being around."

Sirius was pleased that everyone accepted to wait. That would give them enough time to get used to their new lives. It wasn't sharing a house with Remus what worried him, he had known the guy since he was eleven and lived with him for seven of those years; it was sharing the responsibility of being parents to those two boys. Sirius was an amazing godfather – as he often declared to anyone who was willing to listen and many who weren't – but he was new to the job of being a parent. Being the main caretaker of a toddler was not the same as visiting twice a week, babysitting a few nights and buying huge amounts of expensive gifts. His role in Harry's life had drastically changed and he needed time to figure it out.

Through all his uncertainty, there was one thought that sustained him; he was not alone in this. Looking at the people gathered at his house, chatting with them, laughing at bad jokes, planning to defeat the darkest wizard of the age like it was as easy as playing another prank on unsuspecting students; it gave Sirius the strength he needed to keep going. With their help, he would move forwards and work for a better tomorrow.

He had to hand it to his godson, he had truly put together an amazing team. He wouldn't have picked better options himself.

THE END

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's it for now! I want to thank everyone who reviewed the story, I welcome all the encouragement and feedback you give me. It's actually the first time I write something so long in english, as it isn't my first language.  
> I'm already writing the sequel, it's going to be called "Working for a better tomorrow" but before that I'll be posting a really short story about Tonks.  
> If you have any ideas for the sequel, feel free to comment! It will start about five months after the end of this one and I'm not quite sure when it will end, but definitely before Hogwarts age.


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